St Catherine's
by LilBrown
Summary: Bella is an OIT, or Operative in Training. She is an orphan and was raised to be a combat machine in a government institution disguised as St. Catherine's orphanage. Now her and other OIT's must protect a witness to a crime, Edward Mason. Definately AU,AH
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

If you asked any of the very, very few people who actually knew me to describe me in one word, I can almost guarantee that the word would not be whiny. This morning, however, that is all I could seem to be. Of course, everyone around me saw a perfectly smiling young woman- because that is what I wanted them to see; so that is how I acted. But inside I was a complete mess. I suppose I would just do what I always did when I was upset- act completely fine.

No, I am not some hormonal teenager like everyone else seems think is some sort of rule to be when at the age of seventeen? I was simply trained ever since the ripe old age of five to be emotionally detached. I was taught that displaying emotions did nothing but display weakness. So crying never had any kind of release that people think it has for me, the same way that losing my head would prove useless when I am angry. I guess it kind of freaks people out to see an emotionally balanced teen.

My birth-given name was Isabella Marie Swan; people who address me call me Bella. I was raised in what looked like a Catholic Orphanage. Sorry for all of the Catholics out there, but it was really a government institution designed to make future combat weapons out of children who would already be forgotten. Nobody I grew up with had family, and probably would have led a happy, somewhat normal life had it not been for 'St. Catherine's Orphanage Institute'.

I am not complaining, though. I learned my most valued knowledge in those years. For instance, I learned how to kill a man five times larger than me with two fingers. I was put through rigorous physical classes that included three kinds of martial arts, five types of karate, twelve self-defense courses, etc. They also taught at the big St. C. that academic knowledge is equally important. I took strategy courses and biology and anatomy courses as well. I could hack into the main frame of a Coast Guard Eagle Cutter out at sea, decipher its heading, and make the machine change course in twenty minutes for my eighth grade final. I learned all the major nerve endings in the body- effectively making any opponent lock up in pain.

Hold the applause, please.

So, equipped with the brains of a super computer, the skills of Jackie Chan plus, and a hell of a mastering of sarcasm and cunning to boot, I could STILL not get out of the predicament I was in. Carlisle Brass, or the head honcho of St. Catherine's, told me what I had to do to get out of this hell hole. It was the equivalent to a college thesis. Each year, the OIT's (or "operatives in training"- like the seniors in high schools) get a last placement test. This placement test pretty much decides if you are going to be a desk jockey or a field operative for about the rest of your life… so no pressure- right?

Now, I am not a lazy person- does Carlisle want me to bug a serial killer's phone, no problem big guy, consider it done. Does Carlisle want me to warm the lips of an American trader into spilling all of his secrets out, fine, I'll do it. He simply asked too much this time.

He wanted me to go to college.

I mean what the f?! College!? What happened to all of the "you are far too superior to go to a regular school" crap they have been feeding us since day one here? Carlisle simply said, "You have to expect the unexpected".

"I have to expect the unexpected to save my skin along with the rest of my squadron, not so that I don't get sucked into some scandal at the sorority house" I quipped back flatly, keeping my cool.

"Who said that you were going to a place with a sorority?" Carlisle asked, clearly amused at my disbelief in this absurd task. I sat, waiting; his unusually large office surrounding us- both of us staring each other down from the comfort of a leather chair. After a while of silence, he quirked an eyebrow and asked, "What?"

"I am still waiting for my real final mission." I stated, looking strait at him.

"I gave you it already. Now, you will be briefed on the situation further by Tanya in the morning. You, along with several others from St. Catherine's, will be going to Olympia University. You will need your rest, I am sure that you will need to think up smart remarks to counter the sharp wits of the average teenage girl. You are dismissed." He rolled his eyes and stood up, retreating to the back of the room for some files. I refused to allow this.

"How on earth will college help you and the council determine if I am 'field material'?! I have passed every course here with flying colors and have excelled in everything you and the other overseers throw at me, why college? Haven't I already defeated a more rigorous version of college?" I argued. He looked at me, proud that all of the years of pounding skills of persuasion and arguing came in handy.

"There is more to this task than meets the eye, please trust me on that. Expect the unexpected." He repeated and turned, effectively communicating that he was done with this conversation. With a huff, I realized that there was no getting out of this.

"If there are no bombs to be disengaged or no ninjas to incapacitate, I am hunting you down." I finally said as I spun on my heel and left. I heard him chuckle as I left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

So here I was, awaiting the arrival of one of my most hated people in this whole institute. She didn't know that I disliked her- I made sure I made no unnecessary enemies here. Her shallow character and lack of morals just didn't impress me, although she was deluded into thinking we were the best of friends. I sighed; some people are just too easy.

I faintly heard the clacking of high-heels down the damp corridor I was in, and I resisted the urge to role my eyes. I never had problems dressing up when my job needed it, but it was an unimportant luxury the rest of the time. All things in moderation was the motto I operated on- waste not want not. Tanya, however, was over the top. She wore skimpy revealing outfits which I only assumed was a desperate attempt at attention and an over-compensating factor to her insecure feelings.

I plastered on a smile and was ready to be the world's best actress. After a warm greeting and air kisses (she insisted), we started talking animatedly about her latest man-whore. I grew tired of the conversation so decided to take matters into my own capable hands.

"Oh, crap, Carlisle wanted you to brief me on my final! And I really was interested in this James person of yours... but Carlisle made it sound so urgent, you know how men are!" I added for her benefit. She smiled a knowing smile (the stupid wench), and continued in a better direction with the conversation. I found myself outside the passenger door of a shiny black sedan. I got in and Tanya started her rant.

"Ok, so you are going to be put through college somewhere in Washington!" She said buoyantly and I idly wondered how someone so scatterbrained remembered to breathe.

"Oh, yeah, Carlisle said something about that. I am going to Olympia University or something like that. Who else am I going with?" I asked, about ready to rip the files out of her hands and read them myself.

"You are going with four other OIT's; Jasper Whitlock, Alice and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie Hale." I committed the names to memory and started asking more of my assignment. It had me slightly worried that Tanya had to read the files, drive, talk, AND breathe at the same time. I asked for the files nonchalantly 'so I could put them away for later reading' and continued a conversation while looking at the files that hung loosely out of my bag- hooray multitasking. I did a once over of all of their appearances, and looked in their interests files so I could pretend to have something in common with them; routine stuff.

After hearing of five different lovers of Tanya's and two and a half grueling hours of acting interested in her petty life, I was free. I hopped out of the car, took a casual 360 degree sweep of the area and saw one other OIT under a maple reading a book- Jasper Whitlock. He was from Texas and was a fan of history- the civil war mostly. He was tall, ranging about six foot, and his blond wavy hair was set delicately on his head. He had a stripped polo shirt on with three quarter sleeves and casual khakis. My raptor vision concluded he was reading a documentary on Civil War heroes of the South.

I unloaded my suitcases, gave a grateful goodbye to Tanya, and strolled over to the girls dorms. The college I was going to enroll in took on a sort of old country appeal to it. It had brick buildings and staircases that had old huge trees growing overhead and vines hugging their every curve. It was an unusually sunny day out for the Olympic peninsula and I reveled in it.

Keeping a close count of the exits and memorizing the twisting hallways out, all of the while doing a profile check on all of the people I passed by, I made it to the room. I thought my head was going to explode from all of the new information, what with memorizing the OITs' profiles, the strangers in the hallways, the emergency exits, the complete map of the school and other minor details, I thought we were going to have a mini explosion on our hands. But than I remembered an overseas mission in Korea and remembered I have held more information before. No details, sorry, classified.

After my quarters were in well order I decided to track down Jasper for the first contact. As reliable as ever, he was still under the maple I left him under. So I took a breath, and assumed character.

"So what is a man from the south doing in a place so far north?" I questioned, sinking down beside him in the grass. He smiled up from his book and quirked a brow, indicating he knew I knew who he was and he knew who I was.

"Isabella Marie Swan, as you know. I am not sure if your file told you to call me Bella, but do in case it didn't." I winked and shook his hand.

"Jasper Whitlock, and nicknames fail me so just stick with Jasper." He said. "Do you have any idea why we are here?" He asked, for the first time seeming uneasy in his setting. I internally cursed,

"No, I was hoping you would. The file just said that we would all have different jobs revolving around one target…or was it two…?" I mumbled to myself.

"There is just one target, or protectee, I should say." A soprano voice nearly sang behind me. An internal check of who would know this and which picture would match the voice told me that it should be Alice Cullen. I whirled around with a smile on my face, although I was irked that I was not completely aware of my surroundings for once in my life, and someone actually was able to sneak up on me.

"Alice Cullen, but you both already know that, don't you Bella and Jasper?" She offered her hand to each of us to shake, even though Jasper kissed her hand and handled it like she was made of delicate wax paper. A further assessment of her revealed that she was very tiny, about four foot ten. She was well proportioned for her size, and was probably well trained, like the rest of us. She wasn't alone, either. She was with the gorgeous blonde, Rosalie, and the last OIT, Emmett. He was positively huge- but we all have taken down someone like him or larger for our eleventh grade mid term. It may sound weird, but that is what happens when you go through Green Beret training for high school.

"Seeing how we all know each other, why not get down to business. For some reason, Carlisle did not take the liberty to brief Tanya as well as he did our handler, so we have more information that you don't." Alice started. I could have killed Tanya and her scattered brain. But, instead of committing murder, I level-headedly said, "Let's go somewhere more private?" and with that we retired to a secluded courtyard that was less interesting than the rest of the campus and deserted.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

We sat in a circle, and decided to get to know each other a little more before talking about the mission. I found this pointless seeing how I could tell you where each of them grew up, how many siblings they had, and their interests all from five minutes of skimming their files. The talking commenced, mostly with Rosalie giggling at almost whatever Emmett said and Jasper completely attentive to little Alice. After an awkward silence filled with goo-goo eyes at each other, I was done with my psychological analysis of them. I cleared my throat, smiled sweetly, and looked pointedly at Alice.

"Oh, right!" she said, a little flustered but otherwise collected. "Basically, as you know, we are all doing different jobs to protect one target. His name is Edward Mason," she started as she handed us all folders filled with Edward's profile. I looked over his picture, stunning eyes, age, interests, his courses here at Olympia University, and more.

"Why does he need protecting?" Jasper asked, no doubt eyeing Mason's long list of self defense training that mirrored much of ours. He probably could pass for a St. Catherine's graduate, accept he was our age.

"He has too many enemies to handle on his own," Rosalie chuckled, "Let's just say that he is the only witness to a very serious crime committed by the largest mob boss west of the Mississippi River- Aro Volturi. Aro had some people he wanted to 'deal with', and he was sloppy."

"Yeah, he evidently rounded up all of his enemies into a party in one large ball room, and Edward was there," Emmett said, getting animated about this massacre, "He was there as a one-time operative strait from the executive branch to see what was Aro's deal. Why was he inviting enemies to a party? Aro basically smiled as his 'guard' shot most everyone in the room." Emmett finished. I was pretty startled, but I was then crestfallen. Edward is going to be a very emotionally-unstable client- what with seeing all of those people shot and living. I just hoped that I didn't have to be close to him; behind the scenes work. Which reminded me, "What are our jobs?" I questioned.

"Ok, so obviously Edward is a prime suspect and on a number of black lists," Alice said, "No doubt Aro will have some of his guard enrolled in this school, waiting for an opportunity to off him. We need as much upper-hand as we can get. Rosalie and Emmett will be the 'obvious operatives'. If we ACT sloppy in our protection, than they will GET sloppy and cocky- effectively giving us the upper hand. Me, Jasper, and Bella will have separate jobs, but act more like a normal student than an operative. The guard will write us off as not important and target Rosalie and Emmett, who will attract attention fairly easily." That is interesting, so Rosalie and Emmett will be the obvious spies- blacked out sunglasses, wires hanging out of the ear, the whole deal; meanwhile Jasper, Alice and I will look for people who will be looking at Rosalie, Emmett and Edward too long.

"What do you mean we have separate jobs- you, Bella and me?" Japer asked.

"You will be mostly in charge of hacking, since your computer skills are the best among us." Alice explained to him.

"As for me, I will be the one to make the most friends, do the most profiles to find suspects because I have fairly good people skills." Alice stated, and I was extremely happy that wasn't my job. Being friends with half of the population at this school will be necessary, but there is no way that I was able to make friends with the whole student body without committing murder.

"This leaves you, Bella. You will be in charge of keeping an eagle's eye on Mason. Become his friend, use your charms, and make sure he doesn't know who you are. We don't know how good Mason is at acting like you are just a student, and we don't want to take any chances."She assigned me the job. I wasn't extremely happy, but it could be worse. We simply parted and went to settle in.

I decided to scan the area for Mason. His profile revealed that he had bronze hair and emerald eyes-that sort of sticks out. I found it odd that Alice said that he wasn't trustworthy when he once informed on one of the largest mob bosses in America strait to the executive branch. I settled under the tree I saw Jasper sitting at this morning and read Mason's profile, concealing it behind a book. A few short minutes later, a black coupe pulled into the drop off ring of the campus. The driver got out, and I rolled my eyes.

The driver had short black hair, sun-glasses on, a suit, a cord out of his ear and that peaked through the hem of his shirt, and he did a bad 360 sweep. He seriously looked like he belonged in men in black. I understood he needed protection, but honestly, does he want a theme song too?

"Conspicuous much…?" I mumbled and got up and prepared to be sweet to Mason. I had to remember not to slip and use his name when greeting him or the poor guy would probably mistake me for someone in Aro's guard. So a "Hello, Edward" were out of the question.

Then Edward stepped out of the vehicle. Oh…my…God… My brain would have been momentarily unplugged if I hadn't been trained better. He was absolutely gorgeous. So I decided that the best way to his heart was to let him approach me, he probably got girls hanging off him all of the time. I didn't want him thinking I was some love-struck pup.

Than I formulated a better idea as Jessica practically jumped the boy to get his name. He was clearly irritated and startled. Score one for me. I jogged up to her and, with the knowledge I had gained hearing the gossip around campus, I went on the offensive.

"Hey, Jessica, right? Sorry, my name is Bella," I interrupted her mid-giggle and she snapped her head in my direction, glowering at me with what I assumed was supposed to be an intimidating glare, Rose could own her in that department.

"Um, there is this guy…oh what was it… Mark Nayton….no Michael… MIKE! Mike um..." I stumbled; this was actually kind of amusing. She immediately perked up.

"Mike Newton!?" She squealed.

"Newton! That's it. He wanted me to tell you to meet him in the rose garden by the café in ten minutes… eight minutes ago." I concluded after looking at my watch. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she sped off, not bothering to say goodbye to Mason or me.

"Is that a normal thing around here, to meet in the rose gardens?" He asked, and his voice was like velvet to my ears.

"I wouldn't know, I am new here. But she is going to be disappointed." I said, looking after her.

"Why?" He was puzzled.

"Because Mike Newton is not going to be in that garden, you're welcome." I winked, than started to walk away- but not before catching his blinding smile that enticed me to look closer, but I ignored the overwhelming urge to stare. He caught my arm and it was all I could do not to rip his arm off for grabbing me, instinct I guess. So instead I smiled and turned.

"Yes?" I asked. He looked at me, fully this time. I saw his eyes take in the sun dress that I found appropriate for college, and the heels that were modest, but toned my muscled legs. He met my eyes again, and my first impression was cocky.

"Do I get to put a name to the pretty face of my savior?" He said, not really bothering to conceal the compliment.

"Bella Swan," I said, smiling my most innocent smile. I noticed he didn't let go of my arm and I looked pointedly at it. He let go and smiled a crooked smile that I guessed made girl's knees weak.

"Well, I want to get out of here before Jessica comes back. She should forget the whole ordeal by tomorrow. See you around, damsel in distress." I said, looked him up and down quickly, but slow enough to be noticed, and strutted my way across the courtyard. How on earth did I just do that? Did I dazzle a dazzler?! Thank you training! I didn't have a chance to look back and confirm this because the effect would have been lost if he caught me looking back at him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Further scrutiny of his profile concluded that I was put into every class of Mason's. I sighed, putting the thick folder of a man's life into my slick (hiding spot for valuables in my line of work). My slick consisted of pulling pack a base board, carving out the wall, replacing the base board. It was invisible to the untrained eye, and anyone with a trained eye would not have enough time to find it in my dorm. Luckily there were no dorm partners for me or any of the other OIT's, along with a few others.

St. Catherine's set this up so that the OIT's could have privacy, be able to stay out at late hours, but they also gave single dormers to other students so that we wouldn't be suspected- just look like a handful of lucky kids. After locking my door and rigging it to set off a spray that would instantly knock out anyone who inhaled it upon opening, I left the girl's dormitories and headed to the café. Normally, cafeterias or any arrangement in St. Catherine's would not be an ideal place to go for me. I liked to eat, think, or do mostly whatever in quiet.

However now it was essential that I interact with people, get to know their habits, their like dislikes, or what makes them tick. So I took a corner table and just watched people interact.

When people weren't annoying the hell out of me, I found them fascinating. Psychology is such an interesting topic. Why does someone blush? Do some people actually feel a territorial need over another? Why would someone react a certain, different way than someone else would? These questions were swirling in my mind as a girl named Lauren Mallory was putting a girl named Angela down to make herself look better. I would have intervened if one, everyone didn't already see that Lauren was an insecure idiot, and two, Angela didn't already hold her own ground. She whipped out a somewhat effective come-back, to which Lauren only tossed her hair, turned, and demanded the attention of an ogling boy.

"Pretty disgusting, isn't it?" someone said beside me. I was aware of their presence beside me, but wrote it off as someone else who was watching. Now his voice was just inescapable.

"Hey, my name is Mike Newton." He introduced himself unnecessarily. I already knew where this chump was born, who he liked, and who liked him. Seriously, if you want information on someone, just listen.

"My name's Bella Swan." I said warmly, avoiding a handshake by pretending to be busy putting up my hair.

"Your hair is lovely, truly beautiful. Like seaweed dancing on the ocean floor." He murmured in what was supposed to be a seductive voice. I suppressed a fit of giggles at the thought that he thought that comparing my hair to seaweed was enticing.

"SWAN!" a female nasal voice shrieked. Newton thankfully was frightened and jumped away from me, giving me more space and freeing me of his Doritos-ridden breath. I sighed and turned to face a red-faced Jessica; positively fuming. I was at first confused, but was outwardly pleasant.

"May I help you?" I asked sweetly. Than it clicked, Newton, me, her, rose gardens, oh crap; so much for not making enemies. I muttered an internal "way to be, swan" and kept up the innocent façade.

"Are you trying to steal Newton from me?!" she bellowed in my face. Oh so many things I could say to that- like "you don't need to TRY to steal anyone from a girl like you, slut." or "If I wanted Newton, I would have already deflowered him in the nearest janitor's closet and would be done with him".

Instead I went with a, "No, where did you get that idea from?" and stuck with the confused face.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you lied to me about him in the garden so I would be mad at him and he would be afraid of me, than you are all cozy with him in the corner?!" she yelled, her voice going up an octave at the end. People were starting to gather, and I had to diffuse the situation quickly.

"I am sorry, but you are mistaken. The only reason that Newton wasn't in the garden with you is because he was nervous to talk to someone as beautiful as you are. He came to me here in the café because he wanted to know the kind of thing he should say to a sophisticated woman such as yourself." I lied smoothly. I looked over at Newton, puzzled, but seeming pleased at his hook-up with Jessica. Jessica's face immediately straitened and lit up. She turned to Mike, again completely ignoring me (which I was fine with), and started doing the "oohs" and "ahs" at 'his' sly words and actions. I sighed; everyone dispersed and started talking about things like sports. I faintly heard Mike boasting about his smooth lips as I left the cafeteria.

I closed the door to the café and heard clapping. I whirled and saw a pair of striking green eyes appraising me.

"Well done in there. If I didn't already know the truth I'd completely believe you. I want to believe you now." Edward said, eyes dancing. I smiled.

"Thanks. It turns out saving your butt endangered mine. But I think they are doing well in there." I said, glancing through the windows behind me. I chuckled slightly and turned to Edward.

Only Edward was three inches in front of me, looking at me intensely. This time my self control and faltered and animal instincts kicked in. A lot happened than. I whirled, going low, leg out, ready to take his legs out from under the assailant. His training made him ready too, though, and he dodged my legs, pinned them down with one leg, knelt on the other, and held me down to the floor using his forearm on my collarbone. My eyes widened as I realized I had attacked him, using a very intricate move, and I had some lies to put into use. His face was barely inches from mine, eyes wild, breath coming out in hard, short sprints- I had caught him off guard. I felt the adrenaline pulse through my veins and something else that pulsed as a result of his touch. I immediately let go of his forearm, for both of my hands were ready to snap his ulna and radius to bits. I easily rolled out of the suggestive position we were in and straitened myself. He did too, and than he met my eyes.

"Mind telling me what that was about?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"You startled me, I am so sorry! I wasn't expecting you to just breeze up close to me without me so much as hearing you." I explained, hoping he could somehow drop it.

"And how did you know how to do that?" He asked, skeptical. Oh God I hoped he didn't jump to the conclusion that I was in Aro's guard. I'M A GOOD GUY!

"My mother put me through defense classes for the past four years. Her sister was attacked when they were little and she wanted me to be prepared." I said. It was…er…almost true… I suddenly asked myself why it mattered if the story was true. His face immediately displayed pity.

"Oh, I am so very sorry for making you bring it up. That must be hard for you." He said. I had a feeling he knew I was lying, and playing along with the lie. That is one of the problems with people knowing you are a good liar, they expect you to.

"Yes, it is sad. But I forgive you. Now do you mind telling me what possessed you to invade a girl's personal space?" I quipped, changing the subject. Hopefully he would write it off as my discomfort in the sad story.

"Well it certainly wasn't to molest you or anything. Well, that isn't entirely true," he murmured, his eyes gleaming. My heart stuttered. Wait, my heart stuttered!? What!? Oh hell. I kept it together and simply replied, "Touch at your own risk. If I wanted you bruised you'd be bruised." I winked, "I was just leaving, though. I would hate to interrupt your eating, so you can proceed. I'll see you around." I said.

"Wait a second, how come you always say goodbye to me?" He asked, irked.

"Why do you want to be around me?" I retorted, smiling. His answering smile was glorious as he cautiously took a step closer to me; the movement alone took my breath away with his grace, let alone the close proximity of him.

"You are exceedingly interesting, Miss Swan." He whispered. I worked on keeping my breath even and looking him strait in the eye, determined to be amused by all of this rather than flattered.

"You make me sound like a science project." I said, "And you and I have biology fourth hour tomorrow." After saying this I froze, hoping he wouldn't catch that.

"How did you know that?" No such luck.

"I looked at the roster outside of Mr. Banner's class to see where I would sit tomorrow. We're partners." I answered, recalling there was a roster outside all of the classes.

"What, did you think that I was stalking you?" I asked, and suppressed giggles at the truth of it all. He rolled his eyes, than got a devilish grin on his face before saying,

"I was actually hoping you were. That would at least justify my real reason for being here." He said, looking at me through his lashes. My turn to roll my eyes, "What reason would that be?"

"I wanted to know if you would show me around campus; I know you are new too, but I would get lost much easier on my own and I wouldn't consider it bad at all if I got lost with you." He stated matter-of-factly.

"So you were the one stalking, interesting. How long were you waiting out here, watching me?" I asked, slightly intrigued. The devilish grin returned to his face and he shook his head, "No questions now, silly, you have to show me around." He said, knowing that denying me the information I wanted would increase my chances of going with him. Too bad he didn't know that it was my job to be near him- making him do the work for me just made my job easier. There was no way that I was going to admit to myself that getting lost with Edward would be similar to a dream come true- that is, if little orphan girls ever dream.

"Fine, I will try to show you around a school I barely know, too." I said, rolling my eyes at the absurdity of it all. Than I realized I said another lie, I knew this school inside and out, including the underground pipe ways that I would use for emergency exits. I decided to keep the 'tour' strictly above ground and isolated, probably ending at the girls' dormitories so I could have a chance to get to sleep.

We started off where we were, outside the café that shared a hallway with the library. All the books that mattered were already read by me, so I was unimpressed. Edward didn't seem to like them, either; probably read most of them too back when he was home schooled in his home town.

"It is odd," he started, looking thoughtful, "in the café, you seemed engrossed in the lives and actions of those around you. You examined their every move and asking yourself questions about them. You seem to live off of analyzing those around you; probably to make yourself more at ease with the knowledge of your surroundings." He rambled. I was both awed by his observation and confused as to where he was going.

"Observant, but how is that so interesting?" I asked.

"You have yet to ask me a question about anything. Isn't that generally customary for acquaintances? This would be the case especially if one of the two is completely absorbed with the actions of those around them. Am I boring?" he challenged, his eyes mocking, but there was an undertone of something I couldn't place beneath it. Insecurity?

"I suppose I feel like I already know you." I said. I thought the answer was pretty lame.

"Do you now?" He asked, the mocking edge more dominate in his question this time.

"I guess. Is there anything you want to share with the class?" I asked, leading him towards the girls' dormitories- I had to cut the cord for today, I needed to regroup.

"No, I suppose not." He smiled a serene smile, "I guess I will just test your knowledge about me later." He threatened. We approached the entrance to the dorms.

"Well, I guess I will see you around, _partner_." He said. He took my hand, kissed the back of it, and departed. I collected my thoughts and stumbled into my room, closing the door and sliding down it to the floor. My breath came out in a whoosh.

I was screwed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

I was completely screwed. Not just because I found it difficult to control odd impulses around Edward like stroke his face or massage his shoulders, but also because I would need to break into his room. I needed to do a few things.

One, I needed to bug him for sound and so I could know his location. When bugging someone, you need to be able to place a tracker that is about the size of a tack head somewhere inconspicuous, reliable and barely visible. You also need to put it on something that the person would have on hand all of the time. One good example for women would be a purse- where there are lots of pockets and fabric, easy to place something small on. Men are a little trickier. This is where habits come into play. I love people with habits. They are predictable and easy to work around. Does someone take a jog every morning for thirty minutes on a given route? Does someone wear a, say, Rolex watch with lots of nooks and crannies to hide something?

Mason did both of these. I could break into his room easily. The locks on the dorm rooms were standard, easily picked. Also, Alice went into his room momentarily to say hello earlier today, and realized there was no internal security, such as my rigged door. So the lock was my only obstacle.

I would plant one device on his watch that could pick up a mosquito sneezing five yard away if I wanted it to, but I set it to pick up his octave of speaking. I would than plant another tracker on each of his shoes- any of the trackers that move on my monitor screen in my room or on my watch would the tracker that he was wearing.

Before I did any of that, I would need to go to a meeting with all of the OIT's. We set it for inside Alice's room-she was the most set up and the one with the monitors in her cabinets with planted cameras around the school. We were to go to her room, pick up the equipment necessary for communication between all of us, and our own monitors so we could see what Alice sees in her room in our room.

I was the last to enter, and we made a big deal out of greeting, making anyone in the surrounding area think that we were having some sort of party.

It was better than a party in my opinion- I love gadgets. We got conspicuous ear pieces that would both allow communication and allow us to decipher each other's location. We also got better watch monitors, it would track up to twenty bugs and the bugs would appear labeled (ex: "Edward" or "Jasper"). After the exchange, it was time to catch each other up on what we learned.

"Ok, guys," Rosalie started, "Emmett and I have two possible suspects for some of Aro's guard. They wouldn't leave us alone! They were very sloppy." She pulled out two pictures, one female, and one male, both of African descent. She held up the female first, than addressed the boy, "This is Jane and Alec. They are siblings and come from Chicago."

"I did some background on them on the internet," Japer said, "I found that they both lived in the same area where Aro's base of operations was. I also hacked into their internet history and they have been doing extensive research on our little Mason." I nodded, expecting no less.

"Is it possible they are doing the same thing we are? I mean setting up a decoy. If you ask me, it is too good to be true." Emmett questioned.

"I have been doing background checks on other people, as well; giving the leads to Jasper to further investigate…he has been doing a fabulous job." She added, nonchalantly. Jasper blushed a little by this unexpected compliment, cleared his throat, and hurried the conversation along.

"She gave me a profile on two other people, and they were harder to get information on, but not completely impossible." He informed us. He gave us the other suspects' folders too. Both male, and brothers, evidently. One named Demetri and the other Felix Bligh.

"Wise of them to be disguised as brothers; it allows them to be seen together a lot. Not to mention they can pull each other out of class." Rosalie observed.

"Luckily we have a pair of siblings ourselves." Emmett winked at Alice. Alice giggled a little, than stopped abruptly, as if just remembering something. She snapped her head in my direction.

"Bella, we think that you should clue Edward in. We have been giving it some thought and it might be better with him on the boat." She stated. I nodded solemnly, trying to think of an easy way to break the fact that there are at least nine other well-trained killers watching him- oh, but five of them are the good guys…

"Do any of you have any ideas how I should break it to him that he is on surveillance? " I asked. They all looked uneasy; than Emmett burst in with, "OH! You should SOOO give him the whole 'the world is more than what it seems' stuff! It will be something strait out of Men in Black!" we all stared at him in incredulity.

"Kidding… sheesh… spend seventeen years in a government institution and you turn to stiffs." Emmett mumbled. We snickered a little at this, than I thought back to the surveillance team that brought Edward here, I didn't think of them all day...

"Speaking of ridiculous Men in Black ordeals, do you guys know what happened to Edward's security coming here?" I asked.

"Oh, they have some eyes on him," Jasper said, "too bad they don't know that they only see what I want them to see." He looked somewhat smug.

"What, do you hack into their cameras?" Rosalie asked.

"Sort of," Jasper started, getting animated, "what I do has more to do with the visual acuity of the motion sensors in their optica-"

"WHOA WHOA WHOA there!" Emmett cut him off, "Nerd alert! Keep all those fancy, otherwise mind-numbing, words to yourself." Jasper was about to retort, but Alice quipped with,

"SHUT IT, EMMETT! Now, you were saying about the optical read-outs of the class A cameras they have?" She directed towards Jasper. Jasper's eyes widened and blinked a few times, "Uh, they… um.." Oh this was pathetic.

"I have an idea to get break the news to Edward…" I started, as Jasper's stuttering quieted and Emmett and Rosalie stopped laughing.

"I need to get Edward in this building. Jasper, I am going to you to get him in this building somehow- ask him to help you with a lock or something." I commanded, as I commenced with the plan.

After Edward helped Jasper and Alice out with Alice's "computer problems" (as if Jasper wasn't already thinking of what Edward was supposed to do the whole time), he was on his way back- passed Rosalie's room. Emmett and I stumbled out of her room, and Emmett pretended to be drunk, hanging off of my shoulder using me for "support".

"Buh-buuuuy Rosaliee!" Emmett slurred, "Thanks fer the stupor time!" I giggled a little, adding, "Thanks, Rose. Just try not to get Emmett so drunk next time. Have fun studying! Oh, and thanks for leaving me with a drunken mountain that is Emmett!"

We stumbled down the hallway and Edward started laughing. I looked up and feigned relief.

"Oh, good," I sighed, pulling Emmett along, "would you mind helping me with this?" I asked, nodding my head towards Emmett, who was smiling dopily and humming "I'm a little teapot". He laughed once more and took Emmett's other arm and slung him over his shoulder.

"Of course. Where is his room?" He asked courteously.

"Near Tinker Belle I hope!" Emmett stated in a dreamy voice. Jeez he was good.

"He is in building C, room 121, so says his college ID." I informed as we went up the stairs to the boys' dorms. We approached his room and I gave Emmett to Edward as I opened his door. Edward dragged Emmett in, and I closed the door behind him.

Emmett straitened up, and basically "sobered up".

"Ok, Edward, I am not really drunk, but we needed to lure you here to talk to you." He stated. Edward seemed startled and started to back away, but his back was to me. He realized my presence and whirled, and he whipped his head in between Emmett and me, looking for the easiest target.

"Take it easy, now, we aren't with Aro." Emmett stated. At the mention of Aro's name, Edward flew himself into me, effectively tackling me to the floor; Emmett got on him and put him in a head lock, putting a hand over his mouth. Edward's eyes were wild and his nostrils were flaring, no doubt trying to fuel the adrenaline that was pulsing through his veins with oxygen.

"Whoa, there now, Edward: these are soundproof walls, so any surveillance can't detect our conversation, but they can detect screams and sounds from a fight." I said, close to his face. Edward was about to get out of the head lock, but I put my hands on his arms; damn him and his freaking training.

"You need to let us talk, Edward. We are here to help; to protect you." I said in a reasonable tone. Edward stopped struggling and went limp, indicating he would cooperate. Emmett let him go and Edward's lips were pressed in a tight line, uneasy. We all sat down on Emmett's bed, Edward in the middle.

"Who are you?" He asked warily.

"We are just who we introduced ourselves as." Emmett said, "Only we came from a government institution and are trained to do stuff like protect the only witnesses to horrid crimes. Honestly, did you think the only protection is the dweebs who escorted you here? Emmett snorted. Edward remained silent, and then snapped his head in my direction.

"How much do you know?" He demanded, "How much do you know about me, I mean."

"Well, I told the truth when I said that I didn't ask questions about you because I already knew you." I said, as Emmett handed Edward Edward's life in a folder, his dossier. Edward whipped it opened, and his eyes widened while he took in his information. I felt bad for him. There was much more information than necessary there, everything from his first love to his favorite music.

"How many of you are there… protecting me?" He asked in a quiet tone after closing the folder.

"Well, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Bella and I are the good guys enrolled at your school specifically for you." Emmett said. Edward stood up abruptly and turned his back to us.

"And what is your job, exactly. Not just 'protecting me', what does that entail?" He asked sharply.

"Rosalie and Emmett were to attract Aro's guard's attention as decoys, Jasper is a hacker, Alice is to obtain information on all of the students and teachers here, and I was…" I hesitated, "supposed to be your friend." I finished in a somewhat quiet tone. Edward snorted in disbelief.

"So I take it you were trained by something more than a self-defense class that your mother signed you up for." Edward said, a bit of acid leaking into the mix. I was at a loss for words.

"Hey, now, I know this is difficult for you, but try to hear us out. We are not going to exploit you, we are here to protect you." Emmett said in a somewhat defensive tone.

"From what?!" He whirled, eyes cold.

"We have found four possible suspects, all looking for information on you," I stated, "They looked for your schedule, your habits, your family, your friends," I said, getting up, rising in volume, "they wanted to lure you into a situation where you would be alone with one of them, off you, than make it look like an accident." I fired off, looking around, faking confusion, "Huh, does that situation sound familiar to you; the luring into an alone setting, I mean." I finished quirking a brow, pointing out how easy it was for us to bait him to us. Edward turned a shade of white, overwhelmed with this new information.

"Yeah, dude; you need us. Those stupid fed.-wanna-be's ain't cutting it." Emmett said. Edward nodded a little.

"I am sorry, this is just… a little… well… overwhelming… I suppose…" He mumbled, looking a bit ashamed of his momentary hostility.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Emmett said, shaking it off. Edward quirked an eyebrow at him than snickered a little. Emmett and I looked bewildered.

"So… off to Netherland?" Edward asked; Emmett and I laughing hard.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

I had never gone through the whole "first day of school experience". Throughout the stages of my life, I was in school. I was intensively taught skills at a young age to make me "ahead of the game". I never went to an elementary school or a middle school or even a high school.

So here I was, my first day of a normal school… and it was college. How sad.

I looked in the mirror; playing the part of a witty college girl meant dressing up a tad. It was rainy the first day, so I stuck with low-rise jeans that hugged my sculpted legs and a black tank top complete with a denim jacket that perfected the curvature of my waist. I glanced at my watch that displayed Edward's position… which was right outside my room... He must be trying to surprise me or something.

Speaking of which, Edward had taken to the rest of us with amazing finesse. Too bad he couldn't hang out with Rosalie and Emmett, because they had to be the decoys and look all stupidly professional. It was interesting that they could pull off being both a student and an almost-good FBI agent.

We had little time to converse after his ultimatum the night before, but he seemed pretty cool. I guess we were about to get more talking time now. I had not told him about the bugs that I planted on his shoes and watch, so I decided to act surprised at seeing him as I grabbed my umbrella and backpack as I headed out into the hallway.

I rushed out of my room and was actually taken surprise when I ran right into him- I guess I didn't have to act surprise now. I didn't know he was so close! I toppled over him and landed on his chest. He laughed; but it sounded more like a surprised huff.

"But, Bella- it's so soon!" He mocked, commenting on our promiscuous position. I inched closer to his face and whispered, "Well, I certainly didn't attack you to molest you… well that isn't entirely true…" His breathing hitched somewhat at our new proximity and I could see his pupils enlarge. Than I saw his eyes take on a devilish gleam to them as he pushed himself off of the floor towards me and put a hand on the small of my back, pushing me closer to him. My breathing caught and my heart started to beat.

"Bad thing! Red light!" A little part of me screamed, the other part was dying to bridge the very small gap between our lips… and I do mean VERY small… NO!

I snapped out of the fog he put me in and straightened myself out. Well, I should say ATTEMPTED to straighten myself out. As I was getting up Edward pulled himself with me, keeping me close to his chest and our faces precariously close as well. I was taken aback so I stumbled and he caught me, holding my back closer in his strong, muscled, toned, wonderful arms. I would have sighed if every nerve in my being was cursing me to hell for letting my guard down.

"Clumsy me. Sorry about that." I said, brushing him off. I stepped away from him and bent down to get my things. Edward, always the gentleman, bent down to gather my things faster and was upright before I got my hand on my backpack. He handed me my book bag and I slung it on my shoulder, shoving the umbrella into my backpack.

"Shall we?" He asked, his hair a little disheveled from our spill in the hallway…and gloriously sexy. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, smiled and said, "Let's." He quirked an eyebrow but dropped it nevertheless. We descended the stairs after going through the doors outside and it was just overcast.

We walked our way to our first class, Math. It wasn't my particular favorite class, only because it took me the longest to get to master. I eventually did, but not without effort.

As we approached the doors that led to the Math wing in the school, Edward put his arm around my waist. This action confused me, until I looked at Edward, who was glaring at someone. I followed his eyes and saw Mike looking at me with an almost hungry and longing expression. I internally winced and decided to do something.

I dropped my bag on the floor, squared around on Edward, jumped on him and straddled his waist, and kissed him passionately. Edward was stunned at first but answered hungrily. I almost got carried away, but I remembered I had a mission to do. I pulled back, saw Edward's glazed over expression and did an internal happy dance. I hopped off of my mount, picked up my bag, and led a stumbling Edward into the Math building. I faintly heard some applauding behind me as the doors shut, and I managed to catch Mike's devastated expressed.

We walked down a mostly deserted hallway that was approximately twenty yards in length. We were the only ones here this early. I noticed Edward was a little irked and I was about to ask him what was up but he let me know.

"You can't go around doing that to people just because you want someone else to stop staring at you, you know." Edward scolded. I saw him shake his head out of the corner of my eye. I turned around with an innocent expression on, "I can't do what?"

"Kiss the living daylights out of someone for 'tactical support'," He clarified, using his fingers to make quote marks in the air.

"Well, it was either mount you or have Mike staring at me and I chose the former." I stated. He put an arm out in front of me against the wall, cutting off my path. Then he put his other hand on the other side of the wall, closing my exits. I was about to slide down and out of this predicament, but he only put his knee in between my legs, stopping any downward movement.

"So, how was it?" He asked using a seductive undercurrent that made my blood boil. I kept it together and was about to reply when the communicator in my ear went crazy. It made a high-pitched keening noise right in my ear. I gasped and gripped my ear, falling into a startled Edward.

The keening turned to cackling, than crumbling, than I made out words,

"Hey…about…Bella…I…" Huh? It sounded like Jasper, "Testing, testing, one two three." He said in a clear voice, as if he was standing in the room.

"What do you want?!" I hissed. Edward looked at me puzzled, and was about to reply when I pointed my finger at my ear and mouthed "Jasper". His face straitened and waited, patient.

"Sorry about that, Bella, but Alec and Jane are headed your way," Jasper informed, "I had to do some major defensive to keep your record in the government out of their hands, but it paid off. They think you are some harebrained, love sick teenager infatuated with their target." Jasper finished triumphantly. Perfect!

"Jasper, I could kiss you!" I said gratefully. Edward's head snapped into my direction and I rolled my eyes. Testosterone.

"How much time do I have?" I asked, thinking up a plan of action and assuming character. Edward had given me my personal space again and I was pacing a little, plotting.

"I'd say about three minutes and counting." He concluded.

"Cool, now get out of my head for now." I commanded in a playful tone.

"Ok, but be good, I have eyes everywhere and that Edward is one suave fellow…" Jasper suggested laughing. I stiffened a little at the comment, but the low buzz of the receiver died out, signaling an end to our conversation. I stopped pacing and turned to Edward, went on my tip toes, smiled and whispered in his ear, "Go along with what I am about to do, two suspects are coming here and I have to be a flirty college girl so they don't suspect me." Good, it looked like I was whispering sweet nothings to him.

"Lucky me," His whispered back with sincerity dripping from his voice. He wrapped his arms around my back and I just let go whatever emotion was currently in me that would suit a flirty college girl. The doors blew open and I could smell the outside air- maple and roses. I giggled a little as my hair swirled around us. Edward picked me off of the floor and spun me around once, earning squeals from me.

I pretended to stumble, getting Edward to catch me. My act's act was so obvious it almost hurt. I looked like a desperate college girl. I looked up into his eyes, smiled my most glamorous smile, batted my eyes, and whispered, "Thank you and your big, strong arms."

I heard a snort coming from behind me and I turned. Rosalie, Alec, and Jane all entered the hallway. Rosalie was obviously a separate party, keeping to the corner and "supervising Edward". Alec and Jane looked relatively young, and pretty gorgeous. They both looked like preppy school kids; dressed in expensive clothes- but I already knew the paycheck of assassins. I eyed Alec for the effect, winked at him, than turned back to Edward.

He smiled at me, and his eyes went a little lazy as they stared at my lips. Oh God please don't make me kiss you. He leaned in and any other girl would have captured those lips with a vengeance, so that is what I did: the sick, manipulating bastard.

He pushed me up against the wall and I sighed- both out of pleasure and exasperation; he was pushing it. I put one leg around one of his, drawing him closer. Edward moaned and pushed a little harder. I had to stop this before it went somewhere that I desperately wanted it to go, but would leave me otherwise out of control. I pulled away abruptly, and gasped, pulling out my cell phone from my back pocket... somehow…

"Thank goodness! I have been waiting for this call for ages!" I said, pretending my phone was vibrating.

"I will be right back… Hello? Oh my goodness, thank heavens you called!" I said buoyantly, walking out of the doors- Rosalie would watch Edward for real. But, just to make sure, I buzzed her communicator and told her to let me pick up the audio in the room. I could hear everything going on in the room through her communicator. I held the phone to my ear and talked about nothing, listening to everything going on in the room Edward was in.

I heard footsteps and a pleasant male voice saying, "Hello, my name is Alec and this is Jane. We have heard so much about you and wanted to be acquainted with someone with as much class as yourself." I rolled my eyes; yeah, someone with as much class as to take advantage of a situation so that he could kiss me deeper.

"Pray tell, whatever did you hear?" Edward asked with a smile in his voice- he was enjoying himself! There he was, conversing with a pair of people who wanted to kill him as if they were his neighbors. Edward had skills.

"Oh, you know; this and that. Mainly about your friends." A feminine voice came out, Jane. I could hear the bit of irony in her voice when she said friends; she was probably thinking about me and him being plastered to each other on a wall.

"Like who? I must know who I have to track down for gossiping." Edward pleaded with them in a playful tone.

"Well, mainly about the girl you were just with." Alec stated with a thoughtful tone. I could practically picture Alec with his arms crossed and a thoughtful expression on.

"She is rather something isn't she?" Edward said a little dreamily. Nice one, big boy.

"Quite, quite: she certainly seems to… get around." Alec said. Jane snickered. I clenched my teeth, the trouble with playing a slut.

"Well, she really is pretty book smart, but easily manipulated." Edward said matter-of-factly. I would have been angry, but he was simply giving me the upper hand. Alec and Jane would further underestimate me and might even use me to get to Edward now that they think that I can be manipulated. Boy, were they in for a rude awakening.

"I don't mean to ask a stupid question, but why do you have people following you?" Alec asked, no doubt eyeing Rosalie in all of her obvious FBI get out.

"I really don't know. I half expect one of them to come out of the background and tell me the President is my father or something. Do you think I should get a restraining order or something?" Edward asked. I heard someone sigh, and was perplexed; but than I remembered that Jane was there and I could only imagine (or remember) what those glorious eyes of his were doing at this moment.

Someone laughed, and it had an undercurrent of tightness to it. "I don't know. I guess only if they bug you. If I were you, though, I would get them away from me. Some people are talking, man." Alec informed him, abruptly uncomfortable with the state of his partner. I decided that I was done with my "conversation". I walked back into the hallway with a sweet smile on.

"Hi, darling; did you meet some new people?" I asked, looking at Jane and Alec. They both smiled as Edward held my waist with an arm.

"Oh, yes; we were just talking with Edward about those people who keep following him." Alec said, looking over his shoulder at Rosalie (who was undoubtedly trying to contain her laughter, but succeeding and composed a serene face.). I looked over to her and my eyes widened.

"Did we do something wrong, Edward? I didn't even see her the other day… Was she there?" I trailed off, my brow furrowing, trying to remember. Gosh acting like an idiot was getting annoying.

"Well, I think she was-" Edward started, but was cut off by the professor bustling down the hallway and opening the classroom. Alec and Jane inclined their heads in goodbye, heading for another class, and we all went into class, Rosalie walking from down the hallway and into the next classroom; keeping her distance.

Time for some calculus II.

There were twenty two students in our math class, including me and Edward. Unfortunately, one of them was Mike and another Jessica. I did meet another pleasant girl, Angela, who partnered up with Alice when we needed partners. Mike sat at the table in front of Edward and me; Alice and Angela sat at the table diagonally right from ours. The left side of the classroom had three windows made of Plexi-glass, which only needed about eight or nine pounds of pressure the right way to break through, which would lead to a six foot drop. You know… just in case.

It was exceedingly annoying to have Mike blatantly turn around and wink at me. Apparently my performance with Edward only impressed him. Ew.

Frequently would he turn around wink, and Edward would glare and pull my seat even closer to his and put an arm on the back of my chair. I would just roll my eyes because secretly I liked that he felt that way about me- but the larger otherwise more intelligent portion of me realized that was bad. So, when Edward ran out of room to pull me closer, I got up to "throw something out". When I came back I sat down in my chair at a healthy distance away from Edward, but enough to keep him…and me… satisfied. After the seventh time Mike turned around, the teacher said, "Newton! If you want to ogle at Edward or Bella, do so after class! Now, what is the answer?" A pale-faced Mike stumbled to get the answer and stopped turning around immediately.

Class went by soon enough, and Mike waited for me. Jeez, couldn't this guy take a subtle hint?

He was leaning on the door as I was going to get out, Edward in tow. Mike smiled and shook his head. "Not until I get your number, Swan," He said. I grit my teeth.

"How about you move over in exchange for all of you limbs in tact, Newton?" I offered. His smile did not fade as he rolled his eyes.

"You'll give into the Newton charm eventually," He declared. Edward gently pushed me aside, took Mike by the collar, all but threw him aside, took my hand, and walked outside. That was simple enough.

I made a subtle 360 that looked like I was looking for someone in particular. My sweep showed me that Jane and Alec were watching, but my gaze didn't linger on them, and that Emmett had joined Rosalie. The sweep of the area ended on Alice, where I held her gaze and smiled- looking like I found who I was looking for. She made her way to me, and we talked with Edward.

Outside, Alice agreed to meet me later and went away to find "someone"- meaning Jasper. Calculus II was Edward's and my only class that day, so we had some time to ourselves.

"So what do you want to do now?" Edward asked me, kicking some rock down the sidewalk.

"I am not sure; I think I am going to run some diagnostic on some of the people in the classroom we were just with. Maybe I'll have Jasper catch me up on what he has found out." I said. He sucked his teeth and looked at me with a flat expression.

"Do you ALWAYS think about work?" He asked. I gave him a "no duh" expression in return.

"Hence you are still breathing." I informed him. He shrugged, "I guess I just can't believe it is the only thing on your mind," he said.

"What else should I be thinking about?" I asked half scared, half expectant. He smiled and shrugged, not answering. I decided to let the topic go- I didn't need him driving me anymore crazy than he already was. As we walked in no particular direction, I saw Felix, but no Demetri. I didn't know where Demetri was and it bothered me, so Edward and I went to Jasper's room to get some information.

As we approached Jasper's room, I heard some music. It was probably just Jasper blending in with the whole college crowd. Edward tried to knock but the music was too loud. I know I shouldn't have, but I opened the door, standing back and pushing Edward back just in case he rigged the door. There was no spray or wires, so I gingerly stepped in.

The room was dark and I could barely see anything, but I heard a loud thumping noise on the floor and a yelp or two. It sounded like a fight. A look at Edward confirmed he thought the same thing. I sprang into the room and my combat-skilled mind took in every detail in one moment. There were two figures, one taller than the other by about a foot; I figured the taller one was Jasper. The darkness made it impossible to figure out the person's race, so I couldn't guess what kind of fighting to use.

The darkness was not an obstacle as adrenaline pumped my pupils larger, allowing me to see more. I caught the assailant's foot, and Edward caught Jasper and we pulled them apart.

I went to pull a kidney chop but the assailant took my arm and spun them around my back. The attacker was about to run me into the wall with both of my arms around my back but I whirled and the foe took the force of the wall, me pushing them against the wall.

To my surprise, Jasper had started to attack Edward- he was probably taken off guard.

"Jasper, calm down, it is just Edward and me." I told him. The struggles of the attacker died down as I said this.

"Bella?" Jasper said as the same time as the attacker…Alice. Oh jeez. I leaped away from Alice, allowing her to breathe. Jasper flipped on the switch and turned off the music. We were a mess. My hair was all over the place, as well as everyone else's' and our breaths were ragged.

Than I looked at Jasper and Alice closer… remembered the thumps… and the yelps…or were they moans? Oh jeez times two. Alice's tank top was near shambles and Jasper's pants were clawed at.

Everyone shifted uneasily in the room. Edward slid towards the computer and started printing things up.

"I am sorry for the… um… attack. We thought you were being like… attacked or something…" I mumbled, than realized that his pants were kind of being attacked. Jasper went to fix the, as Alice attempted to smooth her hair and tank top. It was a lost cause.

"So, besides saving me, what are you doing here?" Jasper asked with an edge of irritation. Edward smiled, "We just wanted some information on the surveillance you have been doing. We have it now, thanks," He said "We were just leaving now."

We all but ran out of the room and slammed the door shut, but not before the lights were turned out, music started, and we heard giggling. I shuddered as we both got out of hearing distance. Edward folded the papers and put them in his pockets as we walked briskly out of the area. I didn't know where we were going… just away. The part of my subconscious told me we were heading out the doors and towards the rose gardens, but the part of me that should have registered that this was a bad idea got scarred beyond repair in Jasper's dorm.

Once we were past the threshold for the rose gardens, I froze. The ambiance was almost suffocating it was so cozy. I turned to Edward and he was staring at me in a way that made my lower stomach twist.

"Do you have the papers on Demetri?" I asked him. He smiled and handed me the papers. I ignored the thrill I got when I touched his hand and looked at the pictures, sitting down on the behind me.

Demetri was "out sick" today for his first two classes. He was probably talking with Aro. I fished through the papers and came across an interesting one. I was skimming it when Edward's breath was at my face, intoxicatingly sweet. I looked up to find him merely inches from my face.

"Can saving my life be put on hold for once?" He breathed while looking from my lips to my eyes. I shivered, but not from the cold. He inched closer to me as I slid away, trying to get lost in the papers again. He put his long hand on the papers in front of me and pulled them away, sliding closer. My breathing came a little faster now as he put the papers on the bench next to him and engulfed me in his arms.

"No!" I yelled, getting up. I whirled around the bench and swiped up the papers and counted them, making sure one didn't blow away. It would be most unfortunate if someone like Demetri found papers on him, tipping them off.

"We can't afford to lose these," I said, "We should get out of here."

"If you want to," Edward shrugged. We left and found ourselves walking towards the girls' dorms. I idly noted that the security wasn't really all that rough to keep boys out of the girls' dorms and vise versa. I asked Edward to wait outside as I disengaged the trap for my door. Once it was down he came in.

I jumped onto the computer and scanned the papers so I could get rid of the papers without worrying about them getting into the wrong hands. I checked the clock, it was 6:00 P.M. I was reading the pages on the computer when someone sighed behind me. I turned around and Edward was lying on my bed, looking at me disapprovingly.

"It makes me rather uneasy that you are doing all of this just to maintain the upper hand on people who are after me." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, yeah, just people who want to kill you. Why look at them?" I said wryly, "Besides, this isn't just your life; this is my school's version of a final." I clarified.

"Doesn't it get boring?" He asked. I shrugged.

"'Boring' is a relative term. It can't get boring. If I mess up, you die." I said, winking, "What else do you want me to do? ASK Jane, Alec, Demetri and Felix if they are working for Aro to off you?"

"What do I want you to do? Well… let's see…" He asked, rubbing his chin and getting lost in thought.

"Sorry that I won't let you seduce me like you try to do every time I am alone with you." I said dryly, turning back to the computer, "Seriously, sometimes I think you are working for the enemy too, what with all of the distracting you try to do."

Than Edward was standing right next to me.

"I just try? I don't succeed?" Edward asked.

"You CAN'T succeed." I clarified. He chuckled.

"Maybe I just have to try harder…" He trailed off, kneeling on the floor to my left. He pulled the rolling chair away from the computer and swirled it to face him. He put both of his hand on either arm rest and started closing in. I leaned to the back of the chair as his hands slid downward towards the seat of the chair. His face was inches from mine as he breathed, "Now, is this working?"

I gasped at how fast he achieved all of this and at how compelling his voice sounded. He smirked and leaned closer, centimeters away.

I don't know where it came from but the great big knot in the pit of my stomach made me throw myself at him. I launched at him with what space I had left and had my legs wrapped around his waist. Edward walked with perfect grace to the bed as he kissed me senseless. He put me down and was on top of me, never breaking the kiss. My hands wound their way into his hair and pulled him closer as my legs tightened around his waist.

He pulled back for air and looked into my eyes. We were both practically panting. His eyes were positively wild as he breathed heavily- looking at me with a lustful expression. I squeezed my legs tighter around him and pulled myself closer to him, eliciting a gasp from him. I grinded my way down his waist and I saw his eyes roll back a little. His eyes refocused and he captured my lips eagerly.

We continued like this until both of our shirts and pants were removed, but than he stopped me as I was going for my bra.

"Wait," He almost gasped. I waited until he caught his breath, me doing the same. He looked at me with a thoughtful expression on.

"Are you sure you can… I don't know… handle it?" He asked tentatively. My mind clicked onto what I about to do as common sense slowly was kicked back into the front of my mind. My eyes grew as wide as saucers as realization struck. I was totally out of it, and that totally freaked me out. I jumped up and was dressed in about seven seconds. He looked at me expectantly.

"I don't think… I really would like… I don't know if this is going to work out." I finally answered lamely. How cliché.

"Why not?" He asked softly. I looked at him with what I was sure was a tortured expression. I hated to have to turn down this perfect man.

"Simple, you are the protected. I am supposed to be looking after you and the people trying to kill you. To be quite frank, I have no idea what they are doing or where they are; and I should," I answered quickly, "You make me want to forget everything I was taught, everything about my past, even my own name- but I was not built for something like a relationship. I was built to take down an opponent four or five times larger than me. I was built to disable bombs. I was built to steal secrets. I was built to lie. I was built to not trust. I was built to do whatever it takes to achieve the mission. I was built adapt. I was built to survive." I finished, exasperated. I realized how crazy I was sounding, but it was all true.

"I am a closed up clamshell of emotions and I never show them except when portraying a certain kind of person," I explained, "I am Pandora's Box; open me and I will unleash hell upon everything and everyone. That is why I stay closed." I finished, disengaging myself from him. This could not work and I would not be weak.

"If you want I can walk you back to your dorm, or I can have Emmett," I offered. He looked at me wryly.

"I think I can walk myself." He said flatly as he walked across the room and I watched him put on his pants. He picked up his shirt and put it on; one of the sleeves was torn at the shoulders.

"Damn that is sexy…" He whispered looking at it. I would have normally blushed if I hadn't severed my emotions already; I was just a manikin right now. I put on a smile, though.

"You don't have to be the way you are. I seriously think you deserve way, way more than what you have." He whispered sincerely. He stroked my face than walked back to his dorm; I watched him the whole walk the whole way back on my watch.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Ok, so this is my first A/N, and I try to keep them to a minimum. I just wanted to say that 1.) Obviously I don't own Twilight or any characters; I just make them carry out my will and 2.) I got A LOT of inspiration from a series called Burn Notice on USA. It is amazing and that is where I got most ideas or monologue. SO… yea ******

Chapter Seven

I read in a book somewhere that said that "danger is behind the corner that you don't check for it," meaning that bad things happen when you least expect them to.

Not that you can't be prepared for them.

After I made sure that Edward made it to the room without trouble, I set all of the alarms (the ones that tell me when Alec, Jane, Felix and Demetri left their rooms and when they are on a trail that leads to Edward's rooms.). I pulled out the monitor computers that showed me a visual of the hallways and pathways and did a thorough inspection. Everything seemed in place so I told everyone I was going to bed and did just that.

At eleven thirty-two at night a small alarm sounded. I immediately was wide awake and got dressed in ten seconds. I turned off the alarm and turned on the monitors which came to life without delay. I saw them go in the direction of Edward's room and then the second alarm sounded. I turned that off and got into action. I disposed of the computers, putting magnets all around them to disable the hard drive so that nobody could obtain the information on them. I grabbed my bag that would suit this situation and as I was on my way, I warned the others, whispering calmly but efficiently, "Suspects Alpha and Bravo are en route. I repeat: suspects Alpha and Bravo are en route," I glanced at Felix and Demetri's position and saw that they were off campus, "Suspects Charlie and Delta are of base. Alice, meet me with 'the kit' in exit Foxtrot Echo Tango, I repeat: Foxtrot Echo Tango. Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper, you need to fend. You have to dispose of everything incriminating." I had no idea what else they could do to help, but they would think of something.

I had a mission to do.

I took the stairs three at a time and approached the door to the boys' dorms without a sound.

My animalistic instincts were turned on as I entered the hallway and saw them knock on his door. Their back was to the entrance and I just as noiselessly as my entrance. Edward's eyes went slightly wider than normal as Alec held a silent gun up to him and Jane said, "You really need to cooperate and come with us." Edward held up his hands and calmly bought me time as I got closer, "Take it easy, take it eeeeaaasy."

I had to get Alec's attention on me when the time was right. If I karate chopped his lower cervical vertebrae and disconnected it from his thoracic vertebrae, he would be incapacitated but might go into shock and pull the trigger- shooting Edward. So, I asked for his attention.

"Excuse me," I said sweetly. He turned and so did Jane. I crouched on the ground and held my body up with my hands as a simultaneously kicked both Alec in the groin and Jane in the shins- both areas had massive nerve endings that would make them lock up in pain. Something hit me (that would have incapacitated me had I not been trained to ignore pain) in the calf muscle. Edward was right there and took them both by the back of the neck and flung them into the wall- effectively cracking the walls and hitting their occipital bone in the skull, knocking them out. I sprung up out of my crouch and he gave me a look like "now what?"

I took his hand, adrenaline pumping through me. I led him to the stairs outside the boys' dorms that led to the underground exit that Alice would meet me in. We went around the stairs to their side and saw an old pair of doors with a basic lock on them- Alice must have taken the path that was closer from the girls' dorms. I took out my lock picking kit I had in my pack and opened it. I closed the doors behind me and him, keeping us concealed but making the hallway impossible to see.

"How are we going to see? And where are we going?" He asked.

"No questions." I said monotonously and somewhat robotically- I was in the zone now. I felt along the wall until I came across the cabinet I had prepared. I felt inside and go two pairs of night vision goggles. I put one into his hands and put one on quickly. I put the second pack into the one I had and took the routes I memorized.

As I led him down the hallway, I heard a gasp. I whirled, adrenaline taking another stab at my veins.

"What?" I asked hurriedly, scanning the deserted hallway.

"You got shot, Bella. Can't you feel it?" He asked incredulously. I looked at my thigh and saw the wound. I crouched down and ripped the pants away, revealing the injury. I fished into my pack, disinfected the lesion, wincing a little, got as much bits of metal as I could out, and wrapped it in an ACE bandage and gauze. That would just have to do for now.

"It is alright, proceed." I said still somewhat detached from the situation as my every sensor was on red alert. I took his hand and hurried him up as we were in the last twists and turns that led to our meeting place. As we approached, I heard two sets of lungs breathing. I turned the corner and saw Jasper and Alice there. I should have known he wouldn't let her go alone. That was ok, I needed the tactical support. I hurriedly informed them on the situation as we made our way out of the hallway.

"Alice, do you have the kit?" I asked, knowing she did.

"Yes." She answered curtly. We strode out of the damp hallway into an unlit alleyway outside the walls of the college. We didn't need the night vision goggles and we needed to blend, so we gave them to Jasper who stored them into his own pack.

"I will stay with the target and you need to get a car, Alice," I told her. Jasper was about to go with her, but she told him to stay. She took the kit she would need to obtain the car and briskly left the alley

"Where are Rosalie and Emmett?" I asked him, half curious and half wanting to distract him.

"They got a car of their own and are on their way to the safe house." He informed me, looking after Alice.

"Are they losing any possible tails?" I asked.

"Of course they are. They are also preparing the house with the right amount of liquor, pure potassium, arsenic, firearms, knockout gas, et cetera." He said.

"Liquor; are we having a party?" Edward asked, bewildered. I didn't answer so Jasper did. I faintly heard his reply as my mind ran with possibilities of the situation.

"It is a possible explosive, as well as potassium when added with water."

"Where are suspects Charlie and Delta?" I asked Jasper.

"They were in a getaway car when I left my room." Jasper replied darkly. If we hadn't been there Edward would be on his way to "swim with the fishes". Edward's face went a little whiter, but was otherwise quiet as he let us do our thing.

"Where are they now?" I inquired.

"They are leaving the area, probably trying to find Emmett or Rosalie. They are going to be sadly mistaken." Jasper said, seeing on his large watch that they were headed in the opposite direction of Rose and Emmett.

My inquiry continued until Alice pulled up in a Volvo C30 Efficiency. We piled into the car, Edward in back with me and Jasper up front, as I did continuous 360 degree sweeps for any possible tails.

"How did you get this car?" Edward asked.

"I borrowed it." Alice answered off-handedly. Edward shifted uncomfortably in his seat, he probably had morals.

"How is your leg?" He asked me taking my knee and ankle gingerly and putting it into his lap. He started to remove the bandage when I stopped him.

"Don't do that now. Wait until you are safe." I commanded. He looked at me blankly.

"You can't protect me if you get tetanus." He answered. I shook my head.

"I am vaccinated for almost every disease known to man," I answered, "What with chemical warfare becoming more prominent in my line of work." He looked uneasy but let it go. I put my foot back onto the floor and continued my sweep. I checked the position of the suspects. Alpha and Bravo were still out like a light where Edward and I left him. Charlie and Delta were on their way back to the school, probably checking to see what was taking them so long to get Edward and why they weren't responding.

I took this time to review their fighting tactics. There weren't many. They went for shock and awe, which is one thing. That much was evident when I heard of their ordeal with Aro and his enemies; killing all of them at a ballroom party. But they were terribly sloppy. When I asked for their attention, BOTH of them turned. If it were me in the situation, I would have taken Edward by the arm and forced him in front of me, a gun to his neck; meanwhile my partner would have stepped closer to us and whirled around to face whoever interrupted. Instead they both decided to turn and put their back to the man they held at gunpoint.

I decided they weren't trained very much; they were probably just given a gun and told to go buck wild. Assassins made lousy up close opponents. They were used to being behind the scenes, shooting and killing from afar. I didn't know what suspects Charlie and Delta were; my guess was that they were assassins as well, and they pretty much drew straws to see who would be the front men. I told myself not to underestimate myself though, and to "expect the unexpected".

After and hour of driving around in the Volvo, and another thirty minutes driving around in another "borrowed" car, we arrived at the safe house. Alice and Jasper got out first, checking to see if the coast was clear. Jasper went inside first as Alice was in the threshold. Alice turned after three incredibly long minutes and waved us in. I scanned the area and decided to get out with Edward.

The safe house was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and a little run down.

I led him to the house and inside, turning on a light or two. The safe house was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and a little run down. I didn't trust the floorboards much, but they were stable enough. I would worry about Emmett, though. It was evident that Rose and Emmett were already here; they had some of our clothes in our respective rooms. I was about to investigate what was the stock of our poisons and explosives, but someone took my arm.

"If you want to keep your arm, I would suggest you don't take my arm like that, Edward." I turned to him. He looked at me for a second than smiled.

"I wanted to thank you. You literally took a bullet for me. I didn't even know that they were armed until, well, one of theirs was in my face." He said, looking at my intensely. He took my other arm in his other hand as he said this, making me face him.

"It is my job." I said. He shook his head.

"But you nonetheless did it flawlessly." He complimented, "And for that I am eternally grateful."

"It wasn't exactly flawless." I said looking at my calf, disappointed in myself.

"That was one of my intentions actually." He said, smiling crookedly. He picked me up bridal style and ignored my complaints as he led me into the kitchen. He put me on the counter and went to a medicine cabinet.

"At least Rosalie and Emmett don't only think about explosives and poisons. They got just what I needed medically.

"Yes, I have to see where they are and get an update," I said as I was about to get off of the counter. He was across the kitchen in one step.

"No," he said fiercely, "You must make me make sure you are ok. I could not live with myself if you got hurt… more… than you already did."

The suddenness of the passion in his voice stunned me. I nodded meekly and let him proceed. He took such care of my calf, like he was handling the most fragile of things. His touch was feather light as he took off the bandage and inspected the wound.

"You did a fairly good job in the tunnel, but you didn't get the entire bullet out." He said in a quiet tone. I put a finger under his chin and made him look at me, for the first time tonight letting emotion into my voice, "I don't regret it, and I will be ok." He looked at me, and his gaze flickered to my lips, but than he shook his head, realizing he wanted to take care of my calf first.

"The guns they used weren't very good… the bullet barely pierced the tissue." He murmured, looking at my calf.

"That's one of the problems with most silent guns." I said, thankful they weren't really expecting a fight; or else they would have brought a more powerful gun.

"Not to mention your muscle is pretty tight." He mentioned.

"Are you checking me out or 'checking me out'?" I asked playfully. His fingers ran up my shin to my thigh.

"Both," He muttered. He took a match and lit it, sterilizing a pair of tweezers. He plucked the last bits out of the wound as gently as possible and stitched the cut up with the first aid kit the house had.

"It shouldn't hurt all that much." He said while finishing, "If it is sore, tell me and I will give you something to calm the pain."

"Yes, doctor, whatever you say." I said jokingly. I hopped off the counter but stumbled a little, and Edward caught me before I hit anything. He held me as he caught me for a second, than brought me closer and held me tight.

"See, you save me too." I joked.

"Not from a bullet." He objected.

"You make it sound like I jumped in front of a bullet aimed at you. I just incapacitated your attackers and got hit doing it. I was sloppy." I said modestly.

"Don't downgrade what you did, Bella. You were ahead of the game and that saved my life." He said as he pulled back and looked me in the eyes. He than kissed me intensely, displaying emotions he couldn't quite put into words. I answered back with a soft moan and slid my arms around his neck. He pulled me off of the floor and put me on the counter, putting my legs on either side of his waist. I pushed myself closer to him, wrapping my legs around him, ignoring the slight wince when my calf rubbed the rougher fabric of his jeans. His hand slid down my back and the other in my hair, managing to get me closer. I just couldn't seem to get enough of him. He pulled back all too soon and looked at me up and down.

"Undressing me with your eyes?" I asked seductively.

"I don't have to just do it with my eyes," he growled as his hands slowly made their way to the buttons of my shirt. I leaped off of the counter at him and kissed him like I had in front of Mike. He stumbled back and hit the fridge, which made a loud thump. I froze, realizing where we were and why we were here.

"There's a time and a place, Edward." I said, getting off of my mount on his waist, "but your thank you is readily accepted." I informed him, looking him up and down. I decided to go see what the other OIT's were up to. Edward patted down my hair that he so graciously messed up and fixed his own hair and clothes.

As we walked into the living room opposite the house to the kitchen, we heard people talking. It was Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper. We rounded the corner and took a seat on the floor with everyone else.

"Did you get a hold of headquarters back at St. Catherine's, Jasper?" Emmett asked. Jasper looked triumphant, "Yes, even using the computers here that seem to be from the Jurassic period."

"What did they say to the situation?" Rosalie asked, leaning closer.

"Well, I talked with Carlisle and informed him on the situation," He started, his eyes taking a quick glance at Edward, "He said that operatives were dispatched to get Alec, Jane, Demetri, and Felix." I glanced at my watch, and the suspects were no longer on the premises of the college.

"Carlisle also said that we are all signed out of college for the rest of the year," Jasper said, rolling his eyes. As if we cared about the standard procedure of colleges, "He added that Aro's trial was going to be next week, instead of next month, so our job is almost done." I don't know why, but a wave of depression crushed me just than. I pinpointed that it was the thought of being separated from Edward, and the fact that the other OIT's and I were going to pass; effectively making us live in twenty different places a year for the next thirty years.

I suddenly realized that I had no idea what I wanted anymore. Going into this mission, I wanted nothing more than to pass and be an operative- going overseas and doing what I do best. In the beginning of the mission I wanted nothing to do with "Mason". If I talked to him once it would be one too many times. Now, I just didn't know.

I told everyone that I was going to scan the perimeter and quietly left the room. I went upstairs and grabbed a gun along the way, holstering it to my belt loop. I went up the stairs and didn't bother turning on the light, there was enough light for me to see and the light would probably distract my eyes and I wouldn't be able to hear much. There were holes in the wallpaper every now and than and the wood floors had a musky scent to them. I walked inside a door that led to a room and did a sweep before entering further. I looked outside the window and saw that the window peeked out of the middle of the roof. I opened the window and stepped onto the roof, closing the window behind me.

I silently scaled the roof and got to a point where my head was concealed on one side, but I had a good view of the other side. I didn't want to be a sitting duck for one of the many assassins after us. I had a full view of the horizon and they would need one hell of a gun to get me from any side and sneak up on me. There was even a good sized maple tree to my left, just outside the porch's reach. I was ok.

Normally, when people go somewhere to think or get away, they think of some tropical beach or something to look forward to. Me? I am not a huge fan of tropical beaches. I could never find a good way to hide a gun in a bathing suit. To me, beaches are just a way for someone to make you an easy target.

What do I do as a retreat? I think of emergency exit routes. I go over verbs in several different languages. I think of what I would do if I were the opponent. Scary, isn't it? Truth be told, my way of thinking really doesn't solve anything about the current situation, but it sure as hell makes me a whole lot more prepared for future situations.

I heard someone step out onto the front porch and made more of an effort to be quiet, though I was making no noise before. I heard them sigh, and recognized the tone. It was Edward.

"As if my life wasn't already confusing," His breath came out in a whoosh, "I have to fall in love with a spy." My heart stopped, spluttered, and kicked to life in overtime at this ultimatum. I worked to control it, almost afraid he could hear it below me.

"Don't wander, Edward." Jasper warned.

"I'll stay close, thanks." Edward replied. I couldn't see him, but I heard his footsteps come closer to the edge of the porch, than stop in the general area of the tree. I faintly heard scrapping noises and deducted that he was climbing the tree. I crept onto the other side of the roof, out of sight of the tree. The scrapping died down and I heard him brush his hands off on his jeans. I peeked over the roof and saw that his back was to me, so I kept low to the roofline so I could look at him. His bronze hair billowed in the breeze. And his shirt fit snugly over his back as it bunched where he was crossing his arms in the front. He sighed again, turning his head minutely to see more. His left arm reached up to grab a branch above him and the other grabbed one to his right.

"I don't even know what to think," He whispered, "I would regret having been chosen to go to that…party… but that I wouldn't have met her." I was sorry he met me, sorry it caused him pain.

"I want to make her mine, but what do I do? I would have to be some Japanese terrorist in order to see her, interact with her, watch her laugh, see her in her element, confront an assassin or two, marvel at her in combat… kiss her…" He trailed off. I wondered why people sometimes think aloud. I never did, desperately afraid that someone was listening- and most of the time my worries paid off. I was completely happy he was thinking aloud now.

"Gosh I want to have her in my arms now…" He said, looking at the ground; probably contemplating leaving. "I don't want to upset her though… I seem to every time I get too close." He seemed tortured by this inner turmoil. "Screw it; I am going to go see her." He said as he started to get down.

"There is no need to go anywhere." I spoke soft ly. He froze and slowly turned around, looking at me with a stunned expression.

"How long were you there?" He asked tightly.

"I didn't exactly appear out of air. You would have heard me had I taken any other route," I said, "I was here before you came." It could have been the slight breeze talking for the volume of my voice. He looked at me, at a loss for words.

"Now that you found me, what is it you want to say?" I asked.

"I suppose I can have nothing more to say than what I already have… which was probably too much." He said fidgeting. I climbed over the top of the roof and towards him in a cat-like stance.

"It wasn't. I can't exactly incriminate you off of things you didn't know you were saying." I said. He leaped to the roof in one bound and landed lithely next to me, crouching than sitting down next to me.

"What are we going to do?" I asked quietly.

"You got me. I have no idea. I would say that after the court martial with Aro that we could just pick up from there…but…" He hesitated.

"But my whole reason for being here is so that I can be an operative; meaning a am going to travel a lot…" I finished. He stretched out on the inclined roof and sighed.

"How odd this is," I murmured, "I never really wanted or needed anyone. I always thought that if you cared for someone than an enemy could use them against you. Generally thinking of people as assets and being emotionally detached from them was a good thing in my book." I explained while looking around the horizon, checking the perimeter.

"And now?" He asked, probing.

"Now I need someone. Now I can't help but think of something. Now I am out of control of something." I clarified, exasperated. He elevated himself on one elbow.

"Do you really want to be an operative?" He asked.

"That is the only place I seem to fit! My whole life I was trained, should I throw that away?" I asked rhetorically, "I don't even know if I CAN quit. Does the government own me, and I have to do their bidding?" I was momentarily struck by how much I did not know about St. Catherine's.

"I suppose I was never taught to think outside the inner world I was raised in." I said. At that moment someone burst through the front doors.

"Edward?!" Alice hissed into the dark. I slid to the end of the roof and peeked over.

"He's up here and safe, thanks." I informed. She looked at me and clutched her heart.

"Oh good." She breathed.

"Distracted?" I challenged, suggestively wiggling my eyebrows.

"Jasper is one suave fellow." I said, using Jasper's own words against him. She glared at me and whirled back inside.

I laughed quietly and crawled back to where Edward was. He looked at me curiously.

"Jasper is 'one suave fellow'?" He asked.

"Those are the words he used describing you as he warned me about what we did at Olympia U because he had 'eyes everywhere'." I explained. We heard a large thump and a moan underneath where we were perched and I recognized Emmett's voice. Jeez, did EVERYONE have to have sex or something on their free time?! Edward stamped on the roof with his foot, and we heard the complaints of "dust getting into hair". The noises died down- probably as they found new areas. Ew.

"Does everyone feel the need to…um… let go? Like they do…I mean." He asked tentatively. I laughed, "Want to get in on their action?" I teased.

"Not on THIERS." He clarified, a coy smile playing on his lips. My laughter died down as he leaned closer and came to a dead silence as he came even closer to me. I was hesitant, fully aware that if I went in, which I desperately wanted to do, I would not be so fully aware of anything. Than I remembered we were on the roof and he was on many, many hit lists. I stopped him, putting a hand up to his sculpted chest.

"You want to kiss me senseless on a roof… When assassins would THANK me for giving them such a good vantage point?" I asked him. He quirked a brow, "I can kiss you senseless?"

"Now don't get conceded. We should get down." I said starting towards the window. I plopped into the room with a muted thud and looked around the darkish room. Edward landed next to me.

"So THIS is how you got on the roof." He thought to himself.

"Did you mean what you said?" I asked with a sudden need to know.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"When you said you… you loved me." I clarified. His eyes softened.

"Of course." He answered simply. Oh God…

"Even if I can't be with you ever; would you love me still?" I asked with a hint of desperation in my voice.

"Well, I did like the 'maybe you could not be an operative' theory we were working on earlier… but even if you couldn't get out or didn't get out, there is no one else I could ever love." He said tenderly. I snorted.

"You mean you couldn't love someone else who wasn't trained their whole life to lie, not trust, kill-" I was cut off by his lips.

"There is nobody else, nobody at all, nobody ever." He explained. I marveled at this.

"You shouldn't love me. I… Would it be silly of me to say that I wasn't exactly designed to love?" I asked, FEELING silly.

"No, but it would be wrong to say that you couldn't learn. You are not a machine, Bella. You have feelings, and standards, and SOME morals." He said, laughing. At that moment someone burst through the door. I kicked Edward out of the way and jumped in front of him, ready for a fight.

"Jesus, Alice!" Jasper's voice came, "Don't just barge in!" I straitened up and looked at Edward, who was a little winded from the swift kick in the gut.

"Oh jeez, I am so sorry." I apologized, going over to him. He was bent over and put his pointer finger up.

"A minute," he said, still managing his perfect articulation. I whirled on Alice.

"WHAT was SO IMPORTANT that you felt it necessary to barge in here like the freaking S.W.A.T. team?!" I hissed. She looked sheepish, "Sorry, Bella, but I have great news!" She said jauntily.

"What is it, Alice?" Edward asked with a sigh.

"We are going clubbing!" She said with a few bounces.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

You could have heard a cricket sneeze.

"Did I hear you right, Alice?" Edward asked after a long pause.

"If you heard that we are going clubbing, than yes!" She confirmed. A million questions ran through my mind so I decided to go with, "You ARE Alice, right? And you're an OIT at St. Catherine's?"

"Um, duh?" She said, looking at me like I had five heads, and everyone else looking at her like she had ten.

"Than, excuse my French, but what the fuck is wrong with you?!" I said. Edward chuckled behind me.

"Listen, guys, she is leaving out some major details." Jasper said, giving her a scolding look. She beamed at him and he almost melted on the spot. I waited impatiently, wondering how on Earth this situation could make sense.

"Headquarters just gave us some intelligence that Aro owns a nightclub some 45 minutes from hear approximately north, northeast from here," Jasper explained, "The club is how he keeps his fortune and his rather long line of connections. Our mission is to obtain information about his next move, which we have been getting some hints every now and then about."

"Than why doesn't Headquarters send someone else?" I asked, "Like, graduated operatives? Aro probably has profiles on us by now; or at least Rosalie, Emmett, and maybe even you, Alice."

"Headquarters is impressed with the way we handled the situation and want to see how well we can disguise ourselves and act like someone else." Jasper said.

"So they want to gamble Edward's life on our ability; that seems reasonable." I said dryly, "You have to tell them no. There is no way we could pull it off." I vehemently refused. Sweaty bodies smothering me in an enclosed space with what could be a roomful of killers (or at least people that I cannot get profiles on in that noisy environment) is my idea of a personal hell. Not to mention the fact that Edward's life is on the line.

"I tried reasoning with them, but…they seem confident." Alice hesitated.

"'They' seem confident as in Carlisle is confident, right?" I figured. He had some sort of fatherly instinct since day one. Damn him.

"Pretty much, yes; and everyone else agrees with him." Jasper said. I thought about the situation for all of five seconds.

"There is no way Edward is going and he can't stay here alone; I will stay with him." I declared. Alice and Jasper looked at each other quickly, than back at me; the movement was almost too swift for me to notice, but I caught it.

"About that, Bella; well… jeez how do I say this…?" Jasper mumbled.

"Spit it out, Jasper." I said flatly.

"Carlisle said that… well… He said 'I don't trust her alone with that boy, she has to go'." Jasper quoted. Inside, my soul was a burning inferno of all that I wanted to say. The fire inside me seemed to smolder my every nerve-ending; seething everything on my interior. But, me being me, my exterior remained the same; collected.

"That being said, who is going to stay with Edward?" I asked calmly.

"Carlisle wants to see how well you, Bella, can protect someone in such a dangerous situation." Alice said quietly. The blaze inside me escaped in sparks and flames from my interior first through my eyes; I glared at them.

"Did he say anything about the situation if I failed?" I asked in an almost scarily-calm voice.

"He said failure was not an option." Jasper said. How very Carlisle-like. That seems like something he would say exactly.

"Get me online with him, now. I don't care if he is having a conference with the ambassador of Iraq, Jasper; you get me on the nearest fucking monitor in the building." I said, the flames inside me taking stabs at my tone of voice, making it tough as steel.

Jasper muttered an inaudible response and left the room swiftly, Alice close behind. I turned towards the window and looked out, seething to my very core. A calm sigh escaped my lips, alleviating the flame that threatened to singe the whole house inside me. Edward put a hand on my shoulder.

"I trust you, Bella." He whispered.

"That makes one of us." I said wryly.

"How much could they do to me in the middle of a club?" Edward asked.

"I bet that is what Aro's enemies thought about the ball you went to." I said. Edward flinched ever so slightly and sighed.

"I didn't have you there; I didn't and should have seen it coming." Edward said dejectedly; obviously taking the fault for all of those peoples' deaths.

"This is exactly what I don't want to say about you three months from now when Aro unleashes over one-hundred rounds of ammunition on a roomful of lustful teens and us." I stated, "It isn't your fault, you know. You were a pawn; there is nothing that you could have done to prevent Aro check-mating the government."

"Maybe you're right. I just can't help but feel culpable." He sighed, than shook his head, "That isn't the problem right now. I think you need a chance to prove yourself, and, well, here it is."

I whirled, almost stunned if the thought wasn't so Edward-like; chancing his life so I could prove to my superiors that I could save it.

"The answer is no, and not JUST because I loathe the thought of being in a crowded, sweaty, humid, vulnerable club; also because I just can't risk your life." I explained.

"You mean you don't want to be in a small area with me?" He asked, his eyes smoldering. The flame of anger was all but put out, replaced with a wave of butterflies (stupid frickin bugs).

"I cannot believe you are trying to persuade me to go! I would not be any fun; that I could guarantee. I would constantly be making sweeps of the area, keeping to the shadows, out of sight, not dancing or drinking or anything." I warned.

"Let's see," Edward mused, "You, in a dress that would fit a club-scenario, probably above mid-thigh, in the corner, in all your sexy spyness. Oh, yea, I can see how that would constitute as 'no fun'." He finished sarcastically, "I think I'll survive."

"But I don't want to be unsure of your survival." I said. Alice came back into the room, "Jasper got a hold of him."

I all but ran downstairs and looked into the computer, where Carlisle was watching amused; the bastard. Rosalie and Emmett were in the room, waiting, with smiles on their faces; they were ready for a showdown and that is just what they were going to get.

"You, um, sent for me, Bella?" He asked. I heard Edward approach me from behind me but I had some SERIOUS persuading to do.

"Yes, about the absurd order you gave us. I understand that you want some people there to monitor the situation; but why those people have to be OIT's, and ALL of them for that matter, and why the target has to be in the line of fire – that goes exactly against everything that we learned-, is beyond me." I explained, "So, why us, why all of us, and why does Edward have to go?" Carlisle quirked a brow, "You are not referring him by 'Mason' anymore?" I heard snickering behind me. The smaller portions of my mind blushed, but my exterior and larger portion of me stayed intent.

"Get to the point, please." I commanded. He sighed.

"Bella, you are far more skilled than you give yourself credit for." He started; I saw an opportunity so I took it.

"So you trust me?" I asked, skeptical.

"Of course I do." I didn't think it would be this easy, but I held back my triumphant smile, "And you actually trust the other OIT's?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes, Bella, I trust all of you." He said.

"If you trust me than you can trust me with Edward while the others go obtain information." I said victoriously.

"Nice try, Bella, but what if the others need you for tactical support?" Carlisle asked.

"This would be a valid point, if you didn't say you trust them too." I pointed out.

"Damn, she got you Carlisle." Emmett said snickering, "One Bella, Zip Carlisle." I smiled sweetly. Alice giggled and Edward let out a small laugh. Carlisle's eyes narrowed.

"What if I told you there was more than meets the eye in THIS case, too?" He proposed.

"OoOoOH! One and One, now!" Emmett said.

"And what would that minor detail be in this case?" I asked.

"What if I told you that you would find out when you were in the situation?" He prompted. I pursed my lips.

"Hmm, no dice; that innocent little statement is the one that got us into this mess, remember?" I reminded him.

"That's two, Bella and one, Carlisle." Emmett announced.

Carlisle laughed, "I thought you were enjoying yourself rather nicely." He accused, eyeing Edward. I followed his gaze and saw Edward, who was smirking at me.

"And there goes a mighty blow to the gut by Carlisle! Ouch!" Emmett broadcasted, "That's two on two now."

I shot my eyes back to Carlisle.

"I suppose you are right, but I don't want to take that gamble this time. What is it, Carlisle?" I said in a unyielding tone.  
"Oh; and the bullshit limit has been reached! Two to-"Emmett started, "Shut up, Emmett!" Alice and Jasper commanded at the same time.

Carlisle pursed his lips, "Hmm, no dice." He winked at me.

Before I could object, he said, "You have to go to see what it is- expect the unexpected. I am severing this link; it will become unstable in 30 seconds, bye now."

And with that the screen went blank.

"What did he mean it is going to become unstable?" Edward asked.

"Someone was trying to hack it," I explained, "Jasper, couldn't you come up with some counter-curse or something?!" I hissed. Jasper laughed, "It isn't witchcraft, Bella. I couldn't detect the hackers, though. Well, at least not at the time. I got it now." He held up a sheet of paper, with the profiles of the people who wanted in on our conversation.

I ripped the paper out of his hands and read the profiles greedily. I was stunned.

"Mike Newton and Tanya Denali were the hackers." I said numbly. There certainly was more than meets the eye in this one.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"MIKE NEWTON was a HACKER?!" Emmett asked incredulously, "And TANYA?! They wouldn't be able to hack into the internet even if they were on the freaking desktop of a computer!"

"Can they even find a power switch for a computer?" Jasper mused.

"Aro must be getting desperate," Edward pondered. I chewed it over for a few minutes.

"Or he is getting very smart," I said quietly, "Mike Newton has been behind the scenes the whole time; he wasn't exactly high security at the time. And, well, Tanya freaking briefed me on the situation; she knows a lot too."

"They did to us what we did to them…" Alice said, slightly awed that we were hoodwinked.

"Well, at least we caught it before we were the ones K. in some college hallway." Jasper said.

"And they didn't get any information," Alice finished.

"They didn't get any that we know of." Rosalie pointed out. Jasper hopped on the computer and started typing furiously.

"If those newbies did anything to my mainframe…" Jasper mumbled under his breath. After five minutes of quiet, Jasper logged off with a triumphant smile.

"They were trying really hard, but nothing I couldn't push off," Jasper said, "They didn't try anything before, they must have been newly acquired to the guard." I turned to Edward, "There is no way you are stepping foot in a one-hundred mile radius of any club; much less any club that is owned by Aro. For all we know, everyone in there could be a member of the guard."

Everyone nodded.

"So we are going against headquarters?" Jasper asked tentatively, he didn't like the idea of ignoring a direct order like that.

"Yes, Jasper, we are," Rosalie said, than she got a thoughtful look on her face, "Maybe we should call the police to signal a drug bust, headquarters must be doing some serious crack to think of this."

I scoffed, "Please, Rosalie, they are rich people, they can afford cocaine." Everyone laughed a little.

Alice stopped laughing abruptly, "I think at least some people should go… There could be valuable information there."

"What more information do we really need?" Jasper asked, frustrated, "We have everything we would need for a court martial to put Aro in jail! We have a witness' testimony, we have a BUNCH of dead people, we have videotape evidence of Aro's people trying to kill Edward; what else do we really need?"

He had a good point.

"I think we should all bunker down for a while." I offered, "Rose and Emmett got enough food for, like, a zoo. We should be good."

Just then the screen buzzed to life, and Mike's face was on it, smiling at us. Everyone froze in the room.

"Not exactly the greeting I was expecting, Bella; I am hurt." Mike said with a hurt expression on. He was in some sort of office; plaques lined the mahogany-lined walls that framed an impressive looking double-door entrance.

"You are going to be much, much more than hurt once I am done with you, you swine." I sneered. Jasper slid out of view of the monitor and took the keyboard; probably trying to track Mike's location.

"So feisty, I like it, Bella." Mike sighed. I could have, and would have, killed him. Edward reflexively took my arm, like he was trying to protect me from the territorial stare of Mike on the screen.

"Keep your eyes on the prize, there, Mike." Tanya scolded as she came into view… and she had popcorn. She popped one in her mouth as she sat down by their computer.

"Oh, I do have my eyes on the prize." Mike said, eyeing me. I rolled my eyes.

"Is there some other reason you wanted to get a hold of us besides telling us all of your undying love for Bella?" Rosalie asked impatiently.

"Yes, I have a message from Aro," Mike said. I saw Alice out of the corner of my eye and she had a tape recorder out, but out of Mike's sight; bless her.

"Well?" Emmett asked.

"He wanted to direct it towards Bella, I don't blame him," Mike continued, "He said 'join us or die, those are your only two options'." I resisted the urge to laugh my ass off and looked interested, trying to get more information.

"H-how would I do that…?" I asked. Everyone in the room recoiled from me and looked in between the screen and me.

Mike smiled, "That-a-girl; he said to meet him in his club tonight, we are sending you directions now, at about 7 P.M." Jasper bit back fits of laughter. Those idiots, it made it ten times easier to trace someone if they send something to you.

"When would I do that?" I asked tentatively.

"So how is working for him?" I asked interestedly.

"Oh, it is amazing! I have only been here for, like, two weeks, but he treats me like a god here. You could be my goddess." Mike marveled at his geeky fantasy. I saw Rosalie shiver out of the corner of my eye; she probably pitied me.

"That is awesome." I gushed, "How about you, Tanya?"

Tanya, who had looked really bored up until this point, started to get animated.

"Oh, well, you know. I started last week and he thinks I am the best thing since chocolate!" She giggled. Mike looked to something to his left, "Oh, we have to go, Bella. See you tonight, my darling." I plastered on a smile and said, "You sure will."

The monitor went black and everyone stared at me.

"What are you going to do?" Emmett and Alice asked at the same time.

"I am not sure… They couldn't possibly be that stupid, can they?" I asked rhetorically, "Do you have their coordinates now?" I asked Jasper. He scoffed, "Of course I have them. However, I think that this could very easily be a trap, Bella."

"I know I know." I said hurriedly, furrowing my brow.

"I managed to get a picture of the whole screen without tipping them off." Rosalie said, holding up her digital camera the size of a credit card. Jasper perked up, but than his shoulders slumped at the realization of something.

"I need better equipment to do anything with it." Jasper said. Alice lithely jumped to her feet and danced out of the room. A few moments later she came into the room with an expensive looking scanner and a better computer and computer tower on some sort of cart. We were stunned.

"How on Earth did you get all of that?!" Emmett asked the question that we were all thinking. Alice pursed her lips, thinking.

"I plead the fifth." She finally came up with. We just rolled her eyes and Jasper jumped to Alice's side and kissed her, picking her off of the ground. He set her back onto the ground and rushed a sincere "Thank you!" while holding her shoulders. He then rushed to the equipment and started to plug the gadgets in. He looked like a kid at Christmas.

"You… you're welcome." Alice breathed, wide-eyed and slightly unstable. She swayed a little, caught herself, shook her head, and helped Jasper. As they were setting the machines up, I decided to think.

"You can't possibly be thinking of going, are you?" Edward asked, sitting on the couch I was.

"I have no idea. My head is positively swimming with possible outcomes," I said, "They could really be that stupid, and we would take them all by surprise… or it could all be a trap, and I would end up dead." Edward stiffened, "What happened to the 'bunker down' theory we were operating on just a few moments ago? What do we need from them?" He asked.

"I suppose you are right, Alice got audio of our conversation, so we can also prosecute Tanya and Mike in a court of law." I thought, "Jasper, I am going to need you to get Carlisle back; on a secure line this time, I can't afford interruptions."

Jasper nodded, "I will do that before I analyze Rosalie's picture." He started typing away again, and than Carlisle's impatient face popped up.

"What do you want, Bella?" Carlisle asked.

"Well, it isn't my fault that you are always at a computer," I said, "I wanted to know what we need to do further." I explained the conversation with Mike, and Carlisle visibly tensed up at the mention of my "job offer". Rosalie and Emmett left briefly to do a sweep of the area; we promised to fill them in later.

"Well, this new information certainly changes things… Aro is very sloppy." Carlisle mused.

"Why did I need to go meet him before?" I inquired.

"The superiors wanted to test your allegiance to us," Carlisle explained, "We had operatives on standby; ready to burst into the situation when Aro confronted you with his job or death offer." I was stunned, but I shouldn't have. They were willing to kill Edward as one of my tests. They were willing to do anything to test me… to make me an emotionless combat machine. The "Superiors" (aka, crazy, nitwit strategists of the government that want to make some ultimate weapon) were sick, sadistic people who belonged in some asylum- not behind this country.

I stood up, backing away and shaking my head, "No, no way. Carlisle, surely you are mistaken." Carlisle looked at me gravely. He was so playful about this unknown information before, but now he was acting all serious?!

"That's it Carlisle." I said calmly, "Game over. I want nothing more to do with any of this. I am not that important. I quit. This is over." I said as I started to back away. Carlisle sighed.

"Jasper, Alice, please contain her and bring her in." Alice and Jasper looked tortured, but advanced on me anyways- just following orders. Edward was going to stop them, but out of nowhere Emmett came out and sedated him with some syringe. I went on red alert and the instinct to preserve self above all else kicked in. My mind disconnected from my body; sheer adrenaline and instinct fueled me now.

I looked at my exits, my mind taking in a million different details at once. There was a couch to my right approximately two yards to my left, one light fixture above the table with the computers in front of me and behind the OIT's advancing on me. My only escape was the door behind the table and the door to my right. I crouched down, prepared for the inevitable fight.

"Bella, it doesn't have to be this way." Carlisle's voice reasoned with me. I took the ornamental knife that was on the coffee table in front of me and flicked it into the computer's monitor- effectively crippling the system and cracking the screen.

"Come on, Bella. Be reasonable." Jasper pleaded with me as I drew the last knife from the ornamental set.

"What were YOUR jobs?" I spat, "To keep me hoodwinked and pretend to save this man's life?" I was very aware of Emmett's calculated steps towards me and the second needle waiting to sedate me.

Too bad I wasn't going anywhere with them.

I sprung from my crouch at Jasper, taking him hostage with the knife to his throat. Alice gasped, but stayed calm as she circled us, trying to surround me and my hostage. I picked up the bag at my feet, not really knowing what was in it, but it was better than nothing. I kept wide birth from the others as I circled the room. Jasper was about to act defensively (the way we were taught when made a hostage) but I took the knife and grazed his hamstrings. The cut was superficial and would heal, but he wouldn't be able to fight me. I pushed him into Emmett and jumped, grabbing the light fixture, and swinging over the table and out the door.

The house's layout was embedded into my sub cranium so I grabbed my back on the way out and ran into the night.

It was raining outside, but I wasn't complaining. I heard the others follow me, so I took the keys that I put into my bag earlier and jumped into the car, started it, and pealed out of there like a bat out of hell.

This sucks.

**A/N: Muahahahahaha (evil laugh). So, there it is. I think I am going to fuse a little of Maximum Ride into the mix here, so forgive me. Haha. I am kind of taking this wherever it tells me to. Hope you enjoyed it. Review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry if the last chapter had you confused, I hope this chapter clears things up a little. Here you go ******

Chapter Ten

The rain beat down on the windshield as I sped down the road. My mind was reeling. The common thoughts of mine consisted mainly of swear words. How could so many things go wrong so soon?

My main thought was what was my next move? What do I do now?

Did the others actually care about what happened to Edward? Or is he just a pawn to them, too; like he was for the government? Will they use him to get me to come back? Is he safe with them (curse my animal instincts to get myself out of there only)?

And why am I so fucking important? Why would they subjugate their only witness they have to possible death just to TEST me?

My mind swam and nearly drowned in these thoughts as I raced down the deserted streets- getting as far away from the 'safe house' as possible.

Should I get Edward? What would they do with or to him? The other OIT's were so nice to non-enemies, but completely hostile towards enemies. Was Edward's association to me, an obvious enemy now, making him a guilty party?

The worst part of this all was that the whole situation could have been planned. I had no idea what they were planning or if they were expecting me to try to break away. This car could be rigged… I stopped abruptly. I had no idea what to do. I paused and thought; I would go into town and get another car, find a safe spot out of sky vision and away from any video cameras that could be tapped into.

I raced back onto the street and drove until I hit a small town. I got out of the car on a hill, put the car in neutral, and watched as it rolled into a canal at the end of the slope. I waited until the car was fully submerged, than I made a thorough 360 of the area and walked the rest of the way into town.

One of the worst parts of my line of work is that you can't trust ANYONE. Every nerve inside me was a live wire as I walked the seemingly calm streets in the most obscure part of town. I was going to explode with all of the anxiety in me and I was positive that I would slice the next person's throat that so much as looked at me longer than they should with my fingernails. God help anyone who tried to talk to me for some reason. I got profiles of everyone on the street from kids on scooters to a man at a fruit stand.

I found a more ambiguous part of the street that had only middle aged man who was sleeping in a chair across the street… or at least pretending to sleep. I saw a 2001 Nissan Centra parked and worked my magic.

In no time I was out of that town and on my way to a local, small, and rundown park. I parked about a mile away from the good-sized park. I took out my knife and started to carve out the back seat's leather. I got a couple of large pieces of leather from all of the upholstery. I ripped off the mirror and took the little seat belt cutter that was in the glove compartment. After I stripped the inside, I took a look inside the trunk- God bless the people who owned this car. They had a plastic wrap that would cover a king-sized bed. They possibly bought a new comforter or something and left the remains there. There was also an umbrella, an atlas, a fire extinguisher, a flashlight, and a first aid kit. I thank Allstate commercials for telling people to have their 'roadside assistance kits' handy in their cars 'in case of emergency'- like if an ex-OIT needs to get away from almost everyone in the surrounding area. I wrapped my pack in the plastic, shut the trunk and jogged the way to the park, which had a forest by it.

I ignored the nature trail as I went all nature-girl and went my own way. I was careful not to make any particular trail, which was easy due to the rain. If it weren't for our training, I would have been screwed. What with my twenty pound pack on my back, the rain and the lack of shelter, an untrained person would be screwed.

I found an area and took about twenty minutes to make an adequate shelter; using the plastic tarp as a roof and the leather swatches from the car as the floor. I luckily found an old license plate and would go to replace the one on the stolen car with this one.

I got the shelter up, than I went back out towards the car with only the supplies I needed for my next mission. I found the car and put the new license plate on it. It was pretty believable.

So, if I had the situation right, this sucked. I knew that A. the superiors had some sort of plan for me and hold me in some sickly high esteem, B. the other OIT's and anyone else besides Edward could not be trusted and C. I had to get Edward.

I got in and sort of regretted shredding the inside. It wasn't a major issue; I could lie my way out of the situation. I sped back to the safe house, determined to get Edward.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Speeding back to the 'safe house' was a surreal experience. I had to fight the people I once fought with. Luckily fighting with someone lets you know their fighting styles- and I had the element of surprise on my side.

Jasper was pretty basic- more skilled in computers than combat. He would probably do anything to protect Alice, and was pretty gullible for a skilled manipulator. Emmett focused on his sheer brawn and size to intimidate an opponent into submission- he would have no such luck with him. I had a few syringes of my own, Emmy boy. I would try to knock out the majority of them.

Alice and Rosalie were harder to figure out because I had never fought with or against them. I gathered from the experience of using Jasper that she could be distracted (if for only a moment) by the threat of Jasper.

I also tried to think of what they would expect me to do. They would probably expect me to come back for him; they knew Edward was my weakness… and I almost hated Edward for that. I sighed as I accelerated on the gas pedal. I had a plan of action and was going to make for damn sure it was going to work.

I cut the headlights as I approached the house at about 5:30 P.M.; it was dark outside. Could it really have been that long since I left the safe house? I got out of the car and silently approached the tree in the front. Nobody was making sweeps of the area, how sloppy. With feline-like grace, I scaled the tree and got onto the roof. Moving as silent as a mouse, I went to a window that had its lights on and peeked in- but instantly regretted it. Rosalie and Emmett were… occupied at the moment. I didn't really care, it made my job easier.

I found it hard to believe, though, that at such a red alert time they would be so…hormonal. I guess they awoke emotions in each other that were dormant during their stay at St. Catherine's. I moved to the next window, but it was blacked out inside. I pulled out a stethoscope and put it to the wall. The rain made it difficult to hear a lot, but not impossible. I heard one person breathing heavily, as if through the nose when they needed to breathe through their mouth. There was a lot of thumping… and it sounded like a chair. The lights switched on and I stole a glance inside while keeping my stethoscope to the wall.

I saw Jasper come in and approach Edward, who was to my horror bound to a chair and duct taped.

"Edward, I am so sorry… They couldn't find Bella yet." Jasper said grimly. He carefully peeled the tape off of Edward's mouth and Edward flexed his jaw a little before replying, "You say that like it's a bad thing. You wanted to inject her with drugs so you could take her somewhere, remember?" Edward said dryly. Jasper looked devastated.

"You know I don't want this, right?" Jasper whispered. Edward snorted, "Sorry if I am not so happy about the current situation I am in."

"I don't expect you to be happy, just understanding." Jasper said. He seemed positively tortured. Good, he deserved it. I wanted them to say more about my surveillance.

"How many people are looking for her?" Edward asked quietly.

"Almost the whole squadron." Jasper replied just as quietly. Edward gasped a little at this revelation and my every nerve went alive again. I was playing hide and seek with the whole freaking government. Why am I top priority?

"Why are they after her? Is it only because she wanted to quit?" Edward asked angrily; God bless him.

"No, although that is a part of it. It's classified." Jasper said. Edward rolled his eyes.

"Alright, am I classified? What is going to happen to me? Are you going to brainwash me? Or are you just going to turn me into an emotionless robot like they seem to want everyone around here to be?" Edward asked.

"They want to… well… they want you to testify you than… sort of 'dispose of loose ends'," Jasper said while looking away. Edward laughed, "So much for protecting me, you jerk." Jasper smiled ruefully, "I just wish I could help you and Bella some way… You don't deserve this…" He murmured. I opened the window slightly and leaped in silently. Jasper's head whipped and my direction but it was too late, I had the needle in his arm and a hand over his mouth.

"You have helped us, Jasper." I whispered. I took his communicator and a blanket from the bed.

"You look like the avenging angel." Edward marveled.

"Shut up." I said as I gagged Jasper and untied Edward. We both made it out the window and down the tree. I heard Alice yelling something as Edward and I got into the car and sped off.

"What on Earth happened to this car?" Edward asked, looking at the destruction I made before.

"I had to use what I have. It was the upholstery or the tires, and I needed the tires." I said off-handedly, "You have to tell me everything that happened after I left… all that you can remember anyways."

"Alright," Edward said, "Well, I woke up in that God-forsaken room you found me in and have been bound to that chair the whole time. I guess they were afraid of me because I tried to defend you… which I failed at." Edward said while looking crestfallen.

"No, I failed to protect you, stupid. I have you now and I am ok, on to the next part." I ordered, speeding down the road.

"Where are we goi-," Edward started to ask.

"On to the next part!" I cut him off. He chuckled, "Ok, ok. So I heard them getting the computers back online or something. They had a chat with Carlisle, only I couldn't pick up everything they were saying. Carlisle was furious with the fact that you got away, but not surprised- oddly." Edward said, "Carlisle said he dispatched a lot of the squadron to find you and… bring you in."

"Oh, for God's sake Edward, don't edit." I snapped.

"They were going to force you to do an oversea mission in Japan… and use me to get you to do it. They said 'we hit the jackpot when we found a weakness for this useful tool'." Edward clarified. I was beyond not happy- but not surprised. I was a weapon, nothing more.

I parked the car a mile away from the park I set up camp, but in a different spot than the last time. I led the way to the park and through the woods, following my photographic memory to the area and the light of the flashlight. A half-hour passed and we approached the small camp.

"Taadaa." I said lamely, going into the tent-like thing.

We were soaked from head to toe and Edward's cheek got grazed on the way here, but other than that we were ok.

"What odd lives we lead." He said. I got the blanket I got from the house and put in on his lap.

"Bundle up; it would really suck if you got pneumonia." I said as I attempted to make a contained fire. He obeyed, but put some over my shoulders as I worked on the heating embers. I got a small and controlled fire going after about five minutes.

"You know we only went through one class in college?" Edward asked. I snorted, "That is one too many. Why did you even go to college?" I asked.

"My 'advisors' thought it best to act like nothing happened until it came time to testify." He said, "It was dumb and unnecessary and risky. Do I regret it? No." He said.

"Oh, because the life you are leading right now is so glamorous." I said wryly.

"There are other things than glamour; like love" He said quietly, looking at me with a fiery expression- or was it the flames reflecting in his outrageously gorgeous eyes? I rolled my eyes, "You are slightly masochistic; you know that?"

"So I have been told," He said, "So…um… what exactly are we going to do now?" Edward asked uncertainly. I let my breath out in a whoosh, "I have no idea. Everyone is kind of careless, even the OIT's. It just seems planned. Like they WANTED the OIT's to turn on me and they wanted me to run and they wanted me to return to get you and they wanted me to succeed… I just can't figure this out." I said frustrated.

"I also don't know why I am so important! There are so many other skilled operatives or OIT's that would jump for a chance to do this; why do they want to force me?!" I said, irritated.

"I don't know- maybe I am the masochist and they are the sadists." He mused. I had an idea then, but I dreaded it.

"I think I know what I have to do, but I am going to HATE it." I said, "I have to talk with Carlisle somehow; get answers. There is now way that I can keep going with so little information."

"What are we going to do, request a private audience with Carlisle?" He scoffed.

"I am going to be captured." I said, emphasizing the "I".

Edwards' eyes widened and he started shaking his head.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no! NO!" Edward started hyperventilating, "You cannot allow yourself to be in the hands of those psychopaths, Bella! They will stop at nothing to get what you want! I had to live hours thinking you were undergoing some torture, than you show up alright, and now you want to g-go with th-them willingly?!" Edward ranted. I waited until he was done.

"I grew up around those 'psychopaths'. They obviously value me for some reason and they want me to do things that I might not want to do. I have to figure out what and why in order to stop them, Edward. The only leverage that they have against me is you. Right now you can help me by staying hidden and away from them." I said, "I have to do this. I won't be able to live anywhere with an enemy like the government. This must be done. I love you, Edward. Please understand that." I pleaded.

"You can't go." Edward growled while pulling me closer to him. I sighed and kissed him while taking one of the needles and injecting him. He fainted on me and I laid him out the right way so he wouldn't cramp. I found an old pen and scribbled on the blanket

Be safe, stay hidden. I love you, more than life itself.

Love, Bella.

I hated to leave him so vulnerable, but I was positive nobody could hurt him… what the wildlife did to him was something else. I smothered the fire, careful to keep it dry so he could restart it, and left with a flashlight. He had another in the second pack I had.

I left the woods and headed back to the safe house with a different car, this time to turn myself in.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Damn I hate having to make so many authors notes, but here's another :/. Some people have been curious as to why so many people have been reviewing, and I don't exactly know the problem, but fanfiction is not posting my story. The story is made, and will show up on my profile or on anyone else's' if they add it there, but it won't show up in the general book selection or on the search engine. I e-mailed them about it and am currently awaiting their reply. Back to the story! **

Chapter Twelve

I felt a severe case of déjà vu as I raced down the now-familiar deserted road back to the 'safe house'. The guilt that seeped into my veins from leaving Edward again threatened to overtake me, but if he came with me it would be awful for us both. I shook my head as I got closer to my destination.

Than I realized I couldn't remember the last time that I slept; but I wasn't the least bit exhausted. It must be adrenaline. I shrugged the thought off; if it didn't handicap me, it didn't matter. I approached the house and there were many cars in the driveway. I stepped out of the car quietly and leaned up against the car, waiting for someone to realize I was there.

I was there only about ten minutes, watching dawn peak over the outline of the trees in the distance, when I saw someone peek out of the window out of my peripheral vision. I sighed, here we go.

Twenty people burst out of the house and there were about three people holding each of my limbs; I had to tame the beast inside me that almost took out everyone in the surrounding area. I counted about thirty guns pointed at me, some people holding two guns and a few snipers in the upstairs windows. I rolled my eyes, "We need to work on your people skills and your greetings. If I wanted to cause mass destruction, I would have, people. Lay off." I said in an exasperated tone. Everyone looked at each other stupidly like 'what do we do now?'

"Do I have to say 'I come in peace'?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Put your guns down, for the love of God," Carlisle's voice came as he pushed through the crowd; who also consisted of Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie, "She can and would have caused carnage if that was her goal." He got through the crowd of abruptly uncomfortable people, and stopped in front of me, looking me up and down- inspecting.

"Absolutely wonderful…" He murmured.

"Yea, I actually wanted you to start explaining to me what is so wonderful about me." I said flatly. Carlisle laughed.

"I need to run some tests on you first, and I will answer questions while you are undergoing them." He said. I tensed a little, "What tests?" I asked through tight lips.

"We mainly want your vital signs, but maybe a blood test or two." Carlisle shrugged. Two people whom I didn't know grabbed my arms, but my animal instincts kicked in and they were both crippled on the floor in ten seconds. I jumped up onto the car and crouched down, daring someone to attack me from my elevated post. Carlisle sighed; managing to look awed at me and frustrated at the people crouched to attack.

"Enough!" He said impatiently, "She will go nowhere with escorts. Get inside, everyone, now!" Everyone filed inside, and I made sure that I saw them all in my vision as I entered the house. My every animal instinct told me to sprint away, but the saner portion of me told me I needed to do this.

I found myself inside what used to be the living room of the safe house, but was transformed into some lab. I went to a spot in the room where I was the most comfortable (with everyone in my vision who was in the room and the exits in sight). Carlisle disappeared out of the room for a few moments and left me, operatives, and the other OIT's in the room. People shifted uneasily.

"Oh, come now, guys," I said, more towards the other OIT's, "It can't be all that uncomfortable to be in the same room as the person you turned on, can it?" I asked innocently.

"Bella…" Alice started, I held up a hand, "Save it; I don't need it." I replied harshly. "So, were you guys just, like, hanging out; or what? I mean besides redecorating." I asked passively, looking around the room. Nobody answered. I heaved a sigh; what a bunch of mindless twits.

Carlisle bustled back into the room with some needles and charts. He put them on the table nearest me and ordered another medical operative to get some more supplies.

"How much freaking stuff do you need?" I asked, eyeing the already large amount of syringes, stethoscopes, EKG's, etc. Carlisle ignored me as he approached me and rolled up one of my sleeves, he was about to inject me with something but I grabbed his wrist in a vice grip.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I asked, "Sorry, but the last needle you wanted to inject me with wasn't a happy needle." My eyes flashed to Emmett, who was ordered to inject me with some tranquilizer earlier. I glanced at my exits, still in plain sight and not impossible to get to.

"It is just a serum that will slow down your heart to a normal rate." Carlisle said nonchalantly.

"What is wrong with my heart?" I asked, masking my alarm.

"It beats three times faster than the average human being," He said off-handedly, eyeing my hand on his wrist.

"Why do you need to get it to a… normal rate…?" I asked confused.

"We need it at a normal rate so that we can take blood without your kidneys overreacting and over fueling blood." He said.

"My kidneys can do that?" I asked, bewildered. I had no idea that I was different physically than any other person, besides a little more muscular.

"Your kidneys were designed to be able to over-compensate for any blood loss and to be able to pump adrenaline faster." He informed me. I stepped a little away from me, a million questions forming in my head.

"They were… designed…?" I inquired, hating how lost I felt. If I was "designed" in any way, that would require something along the lines of genetic engineering; that was near impossible to do outside of the womb.

"You were genetically altered as a fetus to be the ultimate fighting machine." He told me, "We didn't just find you on the streets after your parents died; we tracked your pregnant egg-donor down and altered your DNA inside her womb."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Have you noticed how much my head just couldn't seem to stop spinning lately? I sure did, and I was getting slightly dizzy.

"What happened to my mother, than?" I asked. Carlisle sighed, "We had a deal, Bella." I took the syringe out of his hand and stabbed my shoulder with it, effectively injecting it into a vein with perfect precision without even looking at my arm.

"Talk, now." I commanded. Carlisle grabbed another needle and waited for the serum to take effect.

"Your mother was a sixteen-year old girl not ready for a child; she was scared and financially unable to have a child," Carlisle said, "A few of the other superiors and myself had been tossing around the idea of breeding the ultimate weapon- the ultimate human, maybe something more than human. This opportunity came around and we seized it." He finished simply.

"What did you change?" I asked tightly, wondering just how clueless I was about my own anatomy.

"You are an extremely advanced human than you know, Bella," Carlisle started; I took a deep breath so I wouldn't gut him with the nearest spoon, pen, fork, nail file, etc.

"You'd thank me if you knew how you would have turned out if we didn't get in there," Carlisle shuddered, "you would have been a clueless, clumsy, hormonal, adolescent, defenseless, whiny, oblivious civilian." He seemed utterly revolted at the idea of me as any one of those adjectives.

"What did you alter, Carlisle." I asked calmly.

"We altered so many things. We changed the size and rate of your heart and lungs, allowing you to obtain and circulate more oxygen. We also increased the size of most of the major veins, allowing more adrenaline and other necessary things to travel more freely through your system. We coated the length of your spine and ribs with better and tighter calcium carbonate bonds; strengthening them and allowing them to take up to thirty more pounds of force or pressure than the average." He rattled off a few, leaving me stunned, "We removed most superficial organs, like the appendix that just subjugate you to disease; and we removed superficial arteries, capillaries, and veins- the ones that just cause bruising and have no redeeming quality. We increased the amount of light your eyes could take in, allowing you to see more in a dark room than any other human." He rambled, taking some blood out of me, "We made you immune to things like osteoporosis, arthritis, tumors, and cancer. The head of your humorous goes farther into your shoulder socket, making it nearly impossible to dislocate. The other joints in your body are also coated with more cartilage- stabilizing them further and allowing them to take more pressure. Your ulna and radius are fused together, making your forearm more stable. We improved your reflexes by two-hundred percent and your muscle mass, strength, and longevity by about one hundred-fifty percent. We made you be able to go without sleep for sixty-five hours strait. We-"

"OK!" I snapped, feeling seriously wierded out.

"But those things are mostly physical," Carlisle continued as if I hadn't spoken, "We discovered how to get into your psychological side. We designed you to be able to actually disconnect your emotions from a situation. There is a sort of natural Novocain in your system. We planned your brain to be able to calculate sixty percent more variables at once and fifty percent faster. It was really just a matter of-" He ranted.

I turned to the others, "Is this weird to any of you?" They shifted a little, not sure whether they should laugh or point a gun to me. I couldn't blame them. I was sounding more and more perilous each second. I thought about all that he was saying and deliberated. Everything sort of seemed to fit, I was just surprised that I wouldn't have noticed any of this- not that I ever looked at an X-ray, but still. I idly wondered why I didn't feel sorrow at the realization of my mother or hope of finding her, than I got wierded out that I could think of that and how many people looked to weigh over one-hundred fifty pounds at the same time.

Carlisle smiled as he looked at my blood through some microscope that was roughly the size of my torso. He let me look, and I gasped. The average human blood cell looked like a flexible bowl, able to bend and twist around others and move freely through the narrow tube that was the vein. Mine looked more like round liquefied sponges; gliding through each other but somehow managing to retain its form. It was like there was only one cell inside the sample, moving freely with no boundaries; only there were hundreds of them, just slithering through each other towards some unseen goal.

"The liquefied state of your cells allows them to move faster when necessary and lets them expand to hold more oxygen." Carlisle said. I looked at him, "Ok, so I am a 'fine specimen'. That is the reason you wanted to detain me?" I asked.

Carlisle looked grave, "You talked about taking away our best achievement; you. The superiors weren't exactly going to give you a severance package and wish you the best of luck."

"And now that you have told me I have to work for them, because I know too much." I said slowly, "and if another country gets a hold of me…" I trailed off, horrified. I looked at Carlisle.

"Are there more like me?" I asked.

"There are no others that survived." He said quietly.

"I suppose it is complicated altering ninety percent of a fetus' DNA," I said dryly, "at least you let me retain a human shape, although it has always been a childhood dream of mine to have a tail. Why did you leave that out?" I asked dryly.

"Bella, I am sorry about your circumstance. I was so focused on the project that I didn't factor in the personal life of the fetus into my calculations." He said.

"Oh, well how convenient," I hissed, "did your mother call you 'fetus' instead of 'child'? Or how about 'combat machine' instead of 'son'?" I asked. I took a step closer to Carlisle and I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I flipped out. I took the offender's hand in one hand, pulled them forward, grabbed their elbow, snapped it backward, and flung them into Carlisle in about five seconds. Some else approached me and I saw that it was Rosalie. Good; I think I was due for a good fight.

She lunged at me, but I was two steps ahead of her. I took a hefty book that was on the table behind me and hit the temporal bone in her skull with the spine of the book- with any luck she would lose control of her emotions and start attacking someone else. She was out for the count though; down in about three seconds. At this point there were several people moving in on me. I took four syringes in each hand (resembling something of Wolverine) and stabbed about eight different people, instantly knocking them out or making them pass out with the ultra blood-thinner. I absentmindedly thought that they really shouldn't have so many needles out like that… oh well.

The exit that led to the kitchen was clear, so I ran to it and shut the door, barricading it with a hefty piece of furniture. I saw that I was in the kitchen on the opposite side of the house- excellent. I took a bag and filed it hastily with medical supplies; than I proceeded to make Molotov cocktails; than I took some of the pure potassium and arsenic that was previously stored. The whole thing took under a minute. I had two cocktails ready to go and found a match, which is all I needed. I poured a bunch of potassium by the gas line in the kitchen than by the window. Than I got a bottle of water and looked out the window.

By this time there were people outside the window, and that was my escape; so I made a big show of lighting it so they say me and motioned to throw it at them. They cleared my way and I jumped out of the house, I grabbed a fistful of potassium and throwing it on them. I threw one of the cocktails inside the kitchen, and the kitchen burst into flames; effectively distracting people.

I took the water bottle, opened it and poured it inside the kitchen, and proceeded to run like hell away from there. When the water leaked onto the pure potassium, it blew up like the Fourth of July. Than when the exploding potassium met with the gas line, all hell broke loose.

It was a good thing that most of the people piled out of the 'safe house' because half of it was blown away by this time, the other half starting to smolder. Everyone was basically worried about getting other operatives out of the fire and figuring out where I went.

I had one cocktail left decided to cripple their cars as well. I lit it and threw it in the middle car, causing the interior to combust. The car started burning, than the fire spread to the gas tank. The explosion would have been beautiful if it wasn't so close to me. I almost singed myself, but ignored the nerves as I found the car I drove myself here in, and hauled like mad away from there… again.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Please review or PM if last chapter confused you… or if you liked it ;) **

Chapter Fourteen

As oblivious as I was to my body on the way to the house, I was ultra-aware of everything inside me. Every liquefied blood cell seemed to be demanding to be noticed, and I could almost feel them rubbing the walls of my veins. My oversized heart and lungs felt like they were going to become too big for my too-strong ribcage and a battle of the three was going on inside me.

I wondered how I wasn't the size of a blimp- they seemed to enlarge everything. Maybe they 'designed' ninety nine percent of the fat out of me and made my muscles smaller but more efficient. I shuddered. I felt more and more like a machine everyday.

My emotions were so overwhelming that I decided to test out Carlisle's theory and tried to shut down my emotions using my "natural Novocain". It worked; I was absolutely focused. I became hyperaware of everything around me, instead of inside me. I could tell you how many trees I passed or how many bushes. The sky was kept in my focus as well; there was no way I would be able to escape a helicopter.

I raced down the roads that were etched in my mind- I had to find Edward again.

Edward! Damn it! I wanted to ask if Edward was in any actual danger anymore, or if it was just a setup. So I decided to do something crazy, I would use a payphone to call. I drove in the opposite direction and found a payphone in about thirty minutes. I placed a collect call to Carlisle's cell phone.

I listened with a smile as Carlisle picked up the phone and the robot asked him if he would accept charges from "Your worst nightmare come true". Carlisle answered yes hastily.

"Bella?! That was completely amazing, I am not surprised," He marveled, "Where are you?"

"You will know in about five minutes," I answered nonchalantly, "I need to know about Edward. Is he in any actual danger, or is Aro one of your operatives as well; and this is all a test?"

"Edward? Oh, you mean Mason. No, he is in no real danger. Aro was not an operative, but we were able to put him in jail along with all of his alliances two days ago." Carlisle answered briskly. He started to ask another question but I hung up and hopped into the car.

I decided to change up cars along the way and did just that, replacing the torn up car with a 1995 Ford Falcon. I sped back to the park and got there in about twenty minutes. I got out two miles away from the park and ran the rest of the way to the camp; I was seriously creeped out that I was not winded much- now that I knew why I wasn't winded.

Edward was asleep still when I found him; poor guy. He was sleeping in the woods for no reason, he was safe. I woke him up and he sprung on me and pinned me to the floor. I was expecting this reaction so I didn't cripple him. His eyes were wild for a second, until he found out who I was; than he kissed me ferociously. I kissed him back just as passionately. He pulled back and looked at me.

"Are you ok? What happened to you? Why do you hide syringes like squirrels hide acorns? Where did you go?" He inquired quickly. I put a hand over his mouth.

I started to explain what went down on episode two of "The Safe House". He gasped and flinched at points in the story like when they all pointed guns at me or when I figured out my anatomy. After I was done he was silent.

"And, another thing, you are safe," I said, "Aro and all of the guard are in jail and were put there two days ago." I informed him. I expected him to hop up and go "see ya!", but he just nodded and rummaged through something behind him. As he turned around, the smell of some sort of food hit me like a bad habit. He turned and started to say "Are you hungry?" but I pounced on him and got the food out of his hands and devoured it hastily. Edward watched with a half amused, half awed expression.

After I finished, my eyes widened.

"I guess I was hungry." I said lamely. He laughed.

"Ok, what did you just eat?" He challenged. I froze- I had no idea.

"Oh my goodness… I have no clue…" I said, trying to remember if I tasted a shred of anything I inhaled.

"Was another one of your 'modifications' the ability to breathe food?" He chuckled. I shrugged.

"You have to leave," I said, changing the subject, "I don't want you to be guilty by association with me." I said. He laughed- not exactly what I was expecting.

"I am not leaving, Bella." He told me as if I was an idiot. That was what I was expecting.

"You can't get hurt and you would be used against me," I told him, "I couldn't bare it if I had to choose between you living and some Japanese ambassador," I whispered, "I would kill anyone for you." He looked torn, like my argument was getting through his walls of defense, but like the other part of him was making more walls.

"No, I have to stay with you," He said, his wavering tone showed that he was devastated by the obvious fact that we couldn't stay together, "What will I do without you?" He whispered desperately.

"Live a long, normal life where your only interaction with the government is doing your taxes once a year." I told him sternly. He looked shattered.

"You don't need to live in the woods," I said, "And you don't have to fear for your life every time a helicopter passes overhead. Don't worry about me, I was built to survive." I said the last part somewhat ironically.

"I won't be able to bare being without you," He said, "I wouldn't be able to just return to my dry, warm apartment and forget you, living in the forest."

"I have been living in a dry, warm, and solitary place all my life; it is time I got away," I said, "I won't let myself be the 'ultimate weapon'. Not even for the police force." I said fiercely. The realization that I wanted nothing more to do with being an operative hit me so hard it nearly left me breathless.

What do I do now? Being a graduate from a place that the government takes great pains to make invisible does not exactly show up on a resume. So what now? What is there for me; or will I be condemned to a lifetime of killing and being an operative?

Than I realized how hard it would be on Edward the first few weeks he was away from me; not just emotionally but also with the people that are trying to track me down. They would no doubt make his life a living hell until they realized that he had no idea of my whereabouts- which he couldn't know. I would have to get away from Edward, again. I had no idea where I would leave him, but it would have to be somewhere safe and I would have to make it clear to him that there was no way he was going to be able to find me. So I formulated a plan and put it into action.

"We will talk about this later," I said, looking around, "We need to get out of here."

"Why, isn't this pretty safe?" He asked, doing a sweep himself. I internally smacked myself; of course it was safe.

"No, not really; I saw some of their computer monitors that were operating and it said something about looking in the park around here," I said, "going in a forest by a rundown park was a pretty predictable move."

He nodded, though there were hints of doubt in his expression. We packed up hastily and, very predictably, there was one more syringe left. I led him through the forest to the opposite side of it so that the forest was between us and the park. I looked around and tried to ignore what I was about to do. I found another car and rigged it, and thought idly that there might be some sort of newspaper article about all of the recent car thefts in the area and a list of what cars were stolen.

The car purred to life and I had to do something.

"You're sure you want to come, Edward?" I asked him. He thought it over, and the hopes that built up during his hesitation crashed when he nodded his head.

"A world in which I couldn't live without you would be an impossible one to live in," He concluded. I internally groaned. This was going to suck. I shrugged and got in, as did he.

"Although we may have to work on your morals a touch," He added.

"If you want to hoof it from here, be my guest." I said. I checked the gas gage and the tank had about a quarter tank left… perfect, unfortunately.

We found a gas station after about ten minutes and Edward got out to pump the car. I got out and met him, hiding the needle behind my back inconspicuously. I didn't want to have to deal with a bill, so I stuck him with a needle before he got around to filling the car up with gas. He tried to resist, but it took effect to soon for him. I caught him and laid him out in the back seat, sighing. I hated to have to do this- AGAIN. Jeez. I felt like such a sadistic person. I drove away without getting gas, but I wasn't planning on using this car for long. I drove until I found another small town- the Olympic Peninsula seemed to specialize in those.

Pulling up to a curb on some deserted street, I saw another jalopy of a car and decided that was going to be my next temporary car. I determined that I should probably leave Edward in the car, but as I was getting out, I felt a hand pull me back. I gasped loudly and whirled, and Edward's long white hand was holding my collar.

"You are… going to have to… find another serum… I am getting…immune." He said weakly, trying desperately to stay awake. I could have cried. I was touched that he was fighting this hard to stay with me and tortured that he couldn't stay with me.

So I reached over and stroked his cheek, "I guess I can't take a… subtle hint." He murmured. I leaned in the back seat and kissed him forcefully. He pulled me further in the backseat, managing to find some strength in his doped-up state. He kissed me like he never had before; the kiss was almost too persuasive- it should have been illegal. My hand went down his cheek to the nerve on his neck and pinched it, effectively knocking him out again. He was going to have a killer headache. The poor guy; with any luck he would be afraid of me from now on and get a girl that wouldn't have to knock him out and who wasn't on the run.

I ignored the shot of jealousy that rocketed through my veins and pounded in my cranium as I thought of who that would be. I struggled to keep my mind focused. I scribbled a letter down and put it in his jeans pocket. I kissed his lips and whispered, "I love you; please understand."

Too bad he couldn't hear me, and too bad I would never see him again. Despair washed over me as I left the car and walked down the street to the jalopy. I was hyperaware of every store with security cameras, every darkened second story window, and every rooftop as I made my way unnoticeably down the street.

It was sunset as I made sped down some street that was headed South, Southwest towards the town of Aberdeen. I guessed that I would find some forest nearby and regroup.

What does one do or where does one go when they want to get away from the government? I supposed that I should be trying to escape to some other country; Canada was accessible and the Coast Guard doesn't pay that much attention to boats heading AWAY from America. What would I do there, though? Almost every job would require citizenship and citizenship would require some form of a medical examination, I was sure. How was I going to explain my anatomy? Would I just go wide-eyed and say "gee wiz, I didn't know THAT".

Well, that would have been a likely story yesterday; I had no idea about myself before today. At sundown my body was starting to register the fact that the last time I slept was when I was at Olympia University, so I decided to park somewhere inconspicuous and sleep.

There was a promising place off the road that was hidden by the trees, but easy to pull out of, so I killed the engine and the lights. I had a feeling that now was one of those times that I could see pretty well, but anyone else would be handicapped.

My sleep was a restless sleep; mostly filled with dreams of phantoms chasing after me and my only companion, and I kept on having to trip the friendly figure to get away from the phantoms. I finally woke up at a time when I got reasonable amount of rest. I decided to walk around a little bit to keep my limbs loose, so I stepped out of the car and stretched a little. I took a look at the atlas I had gotten what seemed like eons ago and planned my next move.

Aberdeen was about thirty miles away; the city of Elma was about fifteen or sixteen miles away. I thought idly about where to go, but realized it really didn't matter so long as I didn't have a goal.

What was my goal? It was to not be an operative. Did I know what else I wanted to do? I didn't have a clue. Not being an operative was enough for me. So how do I fight the government?

My answer was basic and simple; run.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: to answer a few people's questions, yes; I did get a lot of inspiration of Maximum Ride. I sort of picture Carlisle as a Jeb figure. I get the characters from Twilight, the job description from Burn Notice, and some inspiration from Maximum Ride. I want the best of those worlds********.**

Chapter Fifteen

EPOV

Damn it. Damn this whole situation to the fieriest pits of hell.

I thought bitter thoughts as I started to wake up and felt like there was some unseen two by four wedged in my skull. Wonderful.

Bella was long gone, of that I was sure. It was idiotic of me to think I should go and find her; she was a master of disguise and stealth. I sighed and started to get up, and something crinkled in my pocket. I didn't remember putting anything there, so I checked it out. I pulled out an old receipt from some little market and was about to drop it when I saw writing on the back.

I read the letter hastily:

Please understand that I do love you, but you really shouldn't love me. I was not meant to live in the world you were meant to live in. Don't worry about me; I will be fine. In time you will find some pretty, intelligent woman and forget about me. You will find happiness.

Love, Bella

My hands were shaking as I finished the letter. My angel was condemned to a lifetime of forest dwelling and solitude. I was absolutely certain of one thing; there was no way that I could return to the life I once knew without Bella. I didn't know how I was going to help her, but I would find a way.

Her problem seemed to be that she was going to be forced to work for some set of home-wrecker freaks and she didn't want to; like, against her will. Jeez, sadist bastards. Haven't they heard of the Bill of Rights? There must be a law against that.

The epiphany that soared through me nearly made me take off. There was a way to fight for Bella, just not physically. There had to be something against the scenario she was in.

Who would I appeal to, though? She was against the government, the people who take care of judicial cases. OR, is it the Judicial Branch of the government that carries court cases out and the Executive Branch she is actually against… I had some research to do.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

BPOV

Time: Three weeks after I left Edward

Location: Eugene, Oregon

Computers can be a person's best friend; did you know that? They can help you do so much, and they don't even have to be all that expensive to help you with things like getting a new identity. They could be one from, say, your local library if you know how to use them. I managed to find a dead person with no relatives and about my age named "Stephanie Meyer". I decided to assume her name and see what would happen.

Making an ID was a bitch and a half, but I managed to get it down and the finished product had no glitches. I even managed to find her credit card information and decided to see what I could do with that. Now I had a fake identity, and all I had to do was find a job that didn't require a physical. I used Miss Meyer's criminal record; it was much more spotless than mine.

So here I was, thinking how odd it was that just six weeks ago I was at St. Catherine's. I managed to get a job as a waitress; and I found it weird that I was the only waitress in the area that could kill everyone with a fork in one minute flat. I felt so out of place most of the time. People would ask me what I thought of the weather and I would almost reply with something like "it makes for good tactical cover". Or if one of my fellow waitresses said that a guy tried to kiss them 'too early in the relationship' I would almost say "than incapacitate him and run". I felt like I was freaking Arnold Schwarzenegger trying to fit inside a Miata- it just wasn't going to work comfortably for either the car or Arnold.

I was washing the dishes in the kitchen when everyone else said that they had to go; including the manager, who asked me if I could lock up. I sighed as I finished the last dish and headed out into the diner. I took a swift glance around. Without a doubt I was the only one of the employees who could tell you how many Asian people came in today, or how many forks there were in the restaurant. I rolled my eyes and started to turn off the TV's in the area.

I turned all the ones on the one side off and turned around, heading to turn off the last one until the news woman on the TV said, "…and a very determined Edward Mason is struggling and fighting for the rights of a very mysterious Bella Swan." I froze, whirling and sprinting across the diner; effortlessly hurling over chairs and landing in front of it, "I am standing here with Edward Mason, who will explain his situation." She pointed the microphone at an angel. He looked as handsome as ever, if not more. My deprived eyes took in his image greedily. My imagination did not do him a justice. He smiled at the woman, "Thank you. Well, the defendant's name is Bella Swan. I have been trying to prove her existence, but have come up with little. The government is desperately trying to cover up any traces of her existence, now more than ever. She was literally taken from her the womb of her pregnant mother and her DNA was altered to better suit the government. They changed many parts of her anatomy to suit a combat weapon. Imagine their surprise when they find out that she doesn't want to be a machine like they want her to be when she learned about her anatomy and purpose. I am here to prevent them from doing this to her and to protect her rights." Than he turned to the camera, "Bella, if you are watching this, and God I hope you are, you have to go to where we were before so that I can find you. You are in grave danger." The woman's eyes widened a little, "Where were you before?" She asked.

"Oh, I have one more thing to say;" Edward seemed to remember, but I could see he was actually changing the subject, "Hi mom." He smirked at the camera, "I must be going." He smiled at the woman, and she was momentarily dazzled; allowing his escape.

I knew exactly what he meant and where he wanted me to go. A few million questions ran through my mind, but that was nothing new. Some included how he would know if I saw that or not. Thank God for letting me be there when and where necessary. I had a long night's drive to go, so I ditched the diner and sped away in the direction of that old park back in Washington.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Racing back to get to that park was an odd release for me; like I could actually use all of my training for the first time in forever. All of the talents that I was trying to coax to go dormant seemed to explode like fireworks inside of me. I no longer shied away from the fact that I was different; and I welcomed back the feeling of my stronger muscles and bones, the adrenaline rushing through my veins, and the small traces of light being detected by my enhanced eyes.

My mind raced as the latent abilities of the vast space unfolded into a universe of thoughts. It seemed to be pounding just as fast as the car that was dashing beneath my feet. My mind started to think of everything; how many people might have seen that report, what Edward was doing all this time, would some of the people be looking for me in that area, etc. The main thought that circled my brain was that I was going to see Edward in less than six hours, going at my current velocity; that thought seemed to make my foot push harder on the gas pedal.

The car just couldn't seem to go fast enough as I went almost one-hundred miles per hour down the deserted one lane road. My photographic memory remembered the dreary area vividly as I winded down the familiar vicinity of that park. My heart skipped a beat when it saw another car outside; that was foolish because it could've been anybody's car. I raced into the woods silently, listening to everything around me. My ears were aware of every cricket's hum as I dashed passed them; my eyes were alert to every leaf that flew by me; my feet were conscious of every surface that it could land on noiselessly as I seemed to glide over them.

A familiar head of bronze hair came into view and I sprung on him, somewhat winded from my ten minute tear through the woods. We landed on the ground and I let him get up, barely. He was in my arms and he held me close and tight. My nose inhaled his scent ravenously. We sat on the ground for a moment, me in his lap. He put his lips to my ear and whispered, "Is it bad that I feel like a dehydrated man that is presented with the most refreshing of freshwater lakes?"

"Not at all; although you are more important to me than water," I replied quietly. He brought his lips to mine and depicted his hunger. He moved so that he was on top of me without breaking the kiss.

"Are you satisfied?" I asked after a few minutes of nonstop kissing.

"Never," he growled playfully and started to kiss me again. If I wasn't so deprived from him, I would have been asking him the questions that plagued my mind earlier; but my every sense was lost and my every thought was completely entranced by Edward- which is quite an accomplishment due to the fact that my mind has more space than average.

He pulled back and looked into my eyes. I stared back and sighed.

"I will never be able to leave those eyes of yours again," I said. I kissed him than said, "or those lips," I wound my hands in his hair, "or those locks," I looked down towards his torso, "or that body."

"So you won't stab me with anymore syringes?" He asked jokingly.

"No, but how is this going to work, Edward?" I asked him, my mind starting to recollect.

"It has been difficult," He said, "but I have managed to get the attention of the Supreme Court with your testimony." He informed me. He sat upright and I sat in his lap, unable to stay far from him at all.

"What is there to judge?" I asked.

"St. Catherine's Institution wants you to do their bidding against your will," He said, "I presented the facts to the courts and they said if I could prove your existence that they would see you to court." He finished proudly.

"So they don't know I exist…?" I asked.

"St. Catherine's was exceedingly expert at keeping their whereabouts secret and your files invisible. Well, almost expert. I somehow found the place and the government is working wonders there." He said, rolling his eyes, "They are trying to prevent another case like yours."

"It turns out that St. Catherine's is government funded and run, but that they are given a lot of leeway to do what they want. They may have broken a few laws here and there, and you may be the result of a broken law." He said. He looked around, doing a small sweep.

"We actually might want to get you on the other side of the country." He mumbled.

"Why?" I asked.

"You are going to have a court hearing before the Supreme Court. We are going to the other Washington." He smirked.

**A/N: It is kind of a short chapter but I want to make the court case a chapter of its own. ******** I will do my best when it comes to the legal aspects of a court trial. Edward becomes a lawyer, yay. Haha. Stay tuned ;) **


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I tried to get the court case as close to legit as I could… ******** enjoy!**

Chapter Seventeen

Did I ever mention that St. Catherine's taught its students to not trust and to be on edge when around strangers? Well, they did teach pupils that; or drilled it into our heads nonstop until they were sure that we could never shake it.

This little lesson made flying in a private jet across the country an interesting experience.

Never had I been so crazy or on edge than when I was in that jet with Edward and his team of four supporting lawyers. I also never knew that Edward had a background in the law. It was very surprising when he started whipping out legal terms left and right; considering I had read his dossier that pertained to his whole life. I tried to backtrack and think of when I went across something like "spent five years at a law college". It unnerved me that I didn't see something like that.

I watched, baffled, as they threw these terms around like nobody's business. At St. Catherine's they didn't bother to teach us about the law; they taught us that we were above the law and all we had to do was stay away from or manipulate legal officials and we could escape the law.

Edward was talking animatedly with the other lawyers. I found it comical how he was the head lawyer and the other lawyers were all middle-aged. Occasionally one of the lawyers would look puzzled and Edward would stop what he was saying to explain what something meant. It was like the apprentice and the master changed skins.

I did another sweep of the jet, for about the tenth time in the past hour. The plane was pretty compact. The aisle was about a foot wide, with a long, leather sofa lining one side. Opposite the leather sofas were two matching captain's chairs; which were separated by a teak wood table. Teak wood lined most every surface on the wall that wasn't trimmed with a television or a mood light. Edward's team of lawyers was on the sofa and Edward and I were on the two captain's chairs.

Edward noticed my sweep of the cabin and took my hand while talking to the lawyers still. He finished what he was voicing and let another lawyer take the conversation. He turned to me and leaned across the table. My mind was too preoccupied with securing the area that I didn't notice him come closer. He squeezed my hand again and I glanced at him, rocketing back into the chair when I noticed his close proximity. I sighed and he chuckled, "You really shouldn't do this when I am on edge." I whispered fiercely.

"Than don't be on edge," He countered. I laughed softly at his logic.

"Save your lawyer logic for the trail." I said.

"I won't need it; you will win them over with your charm," He said, "The jury won't stand a chance, just like me." He said.

"Will they?" I asked, suddenly and violently self-conscious. I tried to suppress the wave of foreign emotions that swept through me, and one of them was crippling fear. If I were standing I would have been swept off my feet at the suddenness of it all.

On the way to the plane I was so worried with who was going to be with me and who I would have to be in close contact with. On the jet I was preoccupied with whom or what was on the plane, like if there was a bomb.

Now, when Edward washed away all traces of present problems, there was nothing to shield my mind from the worry that plagued the future. I was literally going to go plead for my life. Everything was at stake here; my future as a St. Catherine's operative, my future with Edward, my FUTURE.

My too big lungs seemed incapable of get enough air and my too big heart seemed to feel the need to work overtime as my eyes widened at this split second but life changing realization.

"Don't overanalyze the situation in that spacious mind of yours, now." He said, shifting in his chair and speaking in a cautious tone. I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to clear my head; than the cabin moved downward.

My legs had a mind of their own as they jumped up and my hands gripped the side of the plane. My legs spread wide until the found they walls of the jet. I looked like cat woman perched on the corner where the walls and ceiling met. My hair and eyes went wild and my pupils got larger as the adrenaline pumped through my veins.

There was a moment of silence in which everyone looked at me and I crazily scanned the perimeter extensively; my eyes taking in a million different details at once.

Edward got up with very calculative movements and stepped closer to me. My eyes managed to go wider as the animalistic traits died down and I scaled down the walls nimbly and landed before Edward. He looked at me with an unreadable expression.

"Good God, child, are you alright?" a balding man with large spectacles asked.

"What happened to the plane?" I asked calmly, though inside I could hear the pulse in my ears.

"It is just starting its decent." Edward said soothingly. The look on one of the lawyers face turned from concern to awe.

"Did St. Catherine's teach you that, my dear?" He asked.

My instincts to act as someone else would in this situation kicked in as I smiled a dazzling smile and replied, "More or less." Seeing through my persona, Edward quirked a brow at me and than turned around to the dazed man. Edward looked back at me disapprovingly and motioned for me to sit down because the plane was going to land.

I did so somewhat slowly; or at least my overactive mind read the action as slow. The man that asked me about St. Catherine's seemed to shake off his haze and look at the others.

"Do you think that there is a downgrade in her quality of life due to their training?" He asked, "She completely flipped when the plane merely started its decent; this could be deemed negligence."

Edward rolled his eyes, "It is far worse than negligence, John. They want her to do their bidding because they supposedly own her; that would be deemed slavery." I was slightly intrigued by the legal standpoint of my life and listened to their conversation commence; it was a better alternative than paying too much attention to my future circumstances.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

We arrived in the nation's capital's court at about one o'clock in the afternoon. Does every major case in the Supreme Court take place at one o'clock in the afternoon? I was still jittery, to say the least. My eyes were never so alert, my ears never so sensitive; and that was saying something. Edward took my hand and led me and the other lawyers up the steps to the Supreme Court. No detail was missed by my eyes, no sound by my ears, and no smell by my nose.

The paparazzi swarmed the place. Evidently "DNA-altered freak fights for freedom" makes for good headlines. Cameras flashed, but my enhanced eyes could see past the flash and to their faces; my mind committed every one of their faces to memory. I kept Edward's advice in mind and put on a big smile on to "win over the press" despite the internal battle that was going on.

I was so into the situation that I was almost out of it, oddly. Edward squeezed my hand and I snapped out of my Zen and looked at him. His eyes were soft and soothed my every tightened nerve and muscle. He looked at something past my head and leaned forward in my direction, looking like he was interested in something. I was about to turn my head to see what it was but Edward whispered, "It is going to be alright, I will do everything to keep you safe," through almost nonmoving lips.

My lungs drew in a long breath and it came out rather slowly as I calmed my nerves further. We went into the room and I almost took someone as a human shield to ward off the people who looked my way and started murmuring things. I kept on my smile and nodded at people; even though I was keeping tabs on every single one of them. Every child to every senior was documented into my memory.

My hawk eyes spotted the defense bench and I nearly did a full out sprint away from where I was going. Carlisle saw me and we shared an odd silent exchange. He looked over to me with dead eyes, like he wasn't there but was just a soulless form. I would have glared at him if I could find any trace of the old Carlisle I knew, but he looked like a stranger.

I saw a few other people and caught a second's glance at them but a full profile. There was one very angular-looking woman. She was about sixty years of age and had extremely sharp features. Her eyebrows looked drawn on and her mouth was a taut line with prominent frown lines on her mouth. Her eyes were colored a severe gunmetal silver and her snow white hair seemed to be of plastic and was pulled back into a stiff bun.

The man she was talking to was taller than her, but obviously intimidated by her. Looking at his exterior emitted a sort of strong persona, but looking at his actions just screamed "spineless". He had blond hair that was neatly gelled into place. His black suit was crisply cut and clean but slightly crinkled because he was forced to bend over to meet the woman's whispers. He had a very worried expression on and I got the impression that she was commanding him to do something. Their heads snapped in my direction and the woman glared at me as the man's eyebrows rose ever so slightly. I simply looked the other way- acting like I barely saw them.

Edward led me through the isle in the middle of the court's audience and through to the plaintiff's bench. The other lawyers sat down and started talking hastily. Edward sat down next to me and had me in the middle of him and the other lawyers.

"Ok, Bella, are you doing what you do when you are in a situation you are uncomfortable in?" Edward asked.

"Yes." I answered briskly, completely at a loss to why he would ask me that but continuing my profile checks and sweeps nonetheless. He smiled a triumphant smile.

"Excellent." He whispered. I was about to ask him about it when the judge banged her gavel against its stand and I nearly hurdled out of my chair. I kept it under control as she called, "order, order!"

Everyone quieted and sat down immediately and looked at the judge. I had little knowledge of how court cases went, but I had a pretty good idea.

"We would now like to start this proceeding on," the judge rattled off the time and date of my hearing and introduced the jury. I got down everything I could from the jury; from how many times one would fidget per minute or to if that one girl in the front was a flirt or just couldn't keep her hands out of her hair.

The judge proceeded to enter into the primary procedures for about five minutes. She then addressed the defense attorneys, "would you care to make your opening statement?"

The stern woman smiled a sickening smile and rose, both hands on the table and taking a fearsome stance. I studied her every movement as she began to speak in a brisk and articulate manor, "Yes, your honor. We, the representatives of St. Catherine's Institution, have a bit of explaining to do." She smiled a smile that I was positive was going to crack her face. A bald tall man behind me six rows and to the left coughed and shifted.

"This figure you see here," she continued, gesturing to me, "is the product of our finest research. We took it off of the streets and saved it from a future that was sure to one of destruction. It would have been a 'nobody', if you will, reduced to the living that only an abandoned orphan can achieve. Yes, we altered its DNA to 'suit ourselves', as some have said. What some strategically leave out, however, is that the weapon is a minor who was created not only by a man and a woman who deserted it, but also with millions of taxpayers' dollars." She said, stepping around her bench and slowly pacing; taking deliberate steps and sending the right emotion at the right time to everyone in the room. Edward was writing furiously on note cards.

"'Why' you may ask, 'why is this construction a good thing to keep?' Well, with it's enhancements we have found preventions for diseases that continue to plague us, such as STD's or cancer. Our creation is completely immune to most every disease. So why do we need to keep our very own design? We are not done yet. A very small branch of our Institution created it and didn't think it would have much success; so we need the subject in question to document what we did and to do further experiments. We can ensure that your future child," she pointed to one person, "or your niece or your nephew," she pointed to another person behind me, "can be the first of a new line of people; a line of people with no faults. However, we need this creation for further confirmation that we are doing the right thing." She finished, inclining her head towards the judge and sitting down.

"Would the plaintiff care to open?" the judge asked. Edward got up and smiled a dazzling smile.

"Yes, thank you, your honor." He walked around the desk, tapping it absentmindedly, while looking at his note cards.

"Let's see… figure, product, it, orphan, the weapon, this construction, our creation, our very own design, the subject in question, and the creation. Those were the exact words that the defense used to address Miss Bella Swan. Not once did they address her as a woman, but as an 'it'; not as an American, but 'a creation', not even a person, but a 'weapon'." He started, leaning on the desk towards the jury and audience when he said "weapon". His command of the room and the English language was mesmerizing. Everyone murmured some.

"This evidence is just a five minute sneak peak on a lifetime of how they treated Miss Swan," He began again once he had the audience's attention again. I saw the gutless blond man of the defense squirm uneasily.

"What kind of an Institution would we be sending Miss Swan back to if she did, in fact, go back? What would become of her?" He asked, "She would be an experiment; and for what? She would be an experiment to make a new race of people; one free of imperfections? I can think of another 'genius' that tried to do something like that, Adolf Hitler." He said. Everyone gasped and murmurs sparked through the crowd like wildfire. The judge banged on her desk with the gavel. The crowd quieted after about twelve seconds.

The female defense attorney shot up out of her chair, "Objection, your honor! That terminology is much too fierce for the situation. That scenario involved mass genocide."

The judge thought it over, "Is it not true, your honor?" Edward asked, eyebrows raised, "Didn't Hitler propose a similar idea in time of need, and aren't we in time of need for a disease-resistant person?"

"Overruled; continue with your opening." She finally said. Edward said a velvety "thank you" and continued.

"No, St. Catherine's is not killing millions, but isn't taking the life of one enough to fight for? They propose taking her freedom and use her to make some super race. History does have a way of repeating itself, doesn't it?" He paused, slightly smiling. He then turned abruptly, waving one hand in the air.

"So now we start a battle; a battle for Miss Swan's freedom. Will you send her to that hellhole that posses as a Catholic orphanage, or will you allow her to contribute to society by her own will? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that is your decision that we will help you make." He finished.

"Thank you, Mr. Mason," the judge said, "We will now proceed with our first witness. Would you care to start?" The judge motioned to Edward than the bench.

"I would, thank you," Edward said, "I would like to call Miss Bella Swan to the stand." He announced confidently. I shot a gaze at him, to which he replied with a collected and supportive expression.

I got up fluidly and went to the stand. The bailiff swore me in and I sat down, awaiting Edward's inquiry.

"We all know that Miss Swan is very different from the rest of the human race," Edward started, "but I would like to demonstrate something." Edward said.

"Would you be so kind as to close your eyes, Miss Swan?" Edward asked me silkily. I ignored my alarm and did as Edward commanded, utterly puzzled.

"Now, would everyone with green eyes please stand up?" Edward asked the audience. I heard everyone with green eyes stand up hesitantly. Edward came closer to the bench, "How many people are standing, Miss Swan?" He asked in a voice that made me want to jump him. I ignored that impulse as well as I concentrated.

"Thirteen people are standing, including you but not including the green-eyed boy who left with his mother about one-hundred fifty seconds ago." I confirmed. I heard a silence as people counted, than gasps that set I was right. I heard the boy and mother return through the doors and the silence that followed. I felt bad for the green-eyed boy; everyone was no doubt staring at his eyes to see if I was right. Everyone who was calm and collected before dropped the persona and went ahead and gasped.

"Thank you, Miss Swan; you may open your eyes." Edward said. I did that and felt like a zoo animal. People were staring at me in awe or shielding their children from me as if I was going to snap and massacre the room. I resisted the urge to chuckle as I looked at Edward, seeing what else he was going to pull out of his magic lawyer hat.

"Objection, your honor; how is this little demonstration relevant?" The defense woman asked. The judge looked at Edward expectantly.

"I am glad you asked," Edward started with a chuckle, "I want to ask a few rhetorical questions. Would any of you in here know the answer to that question? I am going to guess nobody else would pay that close attention to everyone in the room. Has anyone in here ever had to live in the woods, running away from people who would do whatever it takes to make you do what they want you to do? I am going to take another wild guess and say no. Who has done this, over history I mean, than?" Edward was thoughtful for a second, than lifted his head like he had an epiphany, "Oh! Well the slaves did in the early twentieth century. They hid by day and lived by night to escape the slave plantations they were forced to live on. They couldn't trust anyone but a very, very small ring of people; and even that small ring sometimes betrayed them." Edward stated, "This very thing happened to Miss Swan, minus the slave plantations and adding a sadistic orphanage. I was there first hand, watching the whole event take place, but I don't think I would be able to question myself, so I would like to call my next witness to the stand." He said, looking at the judge. The judge inclined her head, motioning for him to proceed.

"Miss Swan, you may step down." The judge said. I returned to my seat and watched the show unfold.

"I would like to call Dr. Carlisle Brass to the stand, please." Edward said, looking at the man that resembled Carlisle. Carlisle went to the seat, was sworn in, and sat down quietly.

"Mr. Brass-" Edward began but was cut off by Carlisle, "DOCTOR Brass, please." He said reflexively, like he had been correcting people his whole life. Edward's lips twitched, and I got the feeling that Edward knew he would correct him.

"Forgive me; would you tell us your credentials before we begin?" Edward asked innocently.

"I am a graduate from three different medical schools and three graduate schools of medicine. I have been with St. Catherine's for about twenty years now and I am the head scientist behind Bella's greatness." Carlisle said monotonously, like he was reading from a page somewhere. Edward's eyebrows rose slightly as he turned to the audience, than back to Carlisle, "That is quite a list; most impressive." Edward complimented. Carlisle nodded quickly, a silent thank you.

"Would you list some of the things you told Miss Swan most recently about what you did to her?" Edward asked, implying that I didn't know about my changes until recently; which was the truth.

Carlisle rattled off everything from my upgraded cells to my tighter muscles to my larger heart and lungs to my senses of sight, sound, and smell. Edward waited until he was done patiently, looking at him the whole. Carlisle finished in about five minutes and Edward seemed wickedly amused.

"Thank you for that." Edward said, "No further questions, your honor." Edward smiled as he sat down beside me.

"You may step down, Dr. Brass. Would the defense please cross examine?" The judge asked as Carlisle returned to his seat.

"Thank you, your honor," The woman said, standing, "I would like to call…Miss Swan to the stand." She said, faltering at my name like she was trying to remember it. I was reminded I was still under oath and sat down at the bench.

"Although the plaintiff makes an excellent point at how different Miss Swan really is, what they fail to mention is that it has saved her life countless times." She began. I almost hissed, but I just tensed in the chair instead. Sensing my unease, the defense attorney whirled around and looked at me, "Would you disagree, Miss Swan?"

"Yes, I would disagree." I stated. The woman's eyebrows drew together in feigned confusion.

"Did your skills not save your life when you were assigned to protect Mr. Mason over there?" She asked.

"They did protect me." I said.

"And did your skills not protect you whenever you needed protecting?" She asked briskly.

"They did." I confirmed.

"Than we can gather from this that they did protect you?" She prompted.

"My skills have protected me." I confirmed.

"Than why did you lie under oath?" She asked. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes; I was half expecting her to say "we raised you better than that" with the motherly tone she was using.

"I didn't lie. I merely said that I would disagree with the way you said it." I said.

"Well, you just confirmed that they protected you, and that was the material point." She confirmed, waving off my objection.

"I have an objection, your honor; the defense is leading the witness." Edward said.

"Let her clarify, please." The judge commanded. The woman begrudgingly asked, "Would you care to elaborate?"

"I just disagreed with the way you put it. You made it sound like I was on the street and some random person attacked me and my acquired and genetic traits equipped me to defend myself," I said, "What YOU fail to mention is that the only protection I have ever really needed was from the operatives and superiors at St. Catherine's." I stated matter-of-factly. The crowd gasped and the defense attorney's face turned a shade of white; I could tell that she was wracking her brain for a rebuttal. I stole a glance at Edward who was looking at me with such admiration that I could almost grab it.

"Did you not need protection from those mobsters who were after Mr. Mason?" The woman quipped with.

"I did need protection, and was grateful that I had the skills and a team of OIT's that could support me." I said. The woman smiled as if she were triumphant.

"You see, ladies and gentlemen? We have provided her with every protection necessary to be secure." She said.

"Do you put trying to stab me with a syringe to 'bring me in' under the classification as protecting me?" I asked through clenched teeth, "Do you put threatening the one and only person I have ever loved and trusted to do what you want under that heading as well?" I continued, my every muscle bunching in anticipation and rage.

"Or should I be grateful that you have taught me to not trust, lie, cheat, steal, manipulate, and kill?" I said, ignoring the gasps of the crowd and my idle thought that they were going to hyperventilate by the time this case was through.

"OR, would it be good of me to thank you for-"I started but was stopped by the pathetic defense attorney's objection.

"Objection, your honor, the witness is answering unasked questions." He said; his voice cracking slightly as I glared at him. He sat down in a whoosh, looking like he needed the support.

"Sustained; question the witness." The judge said to the female defense attorney, effectively shutting me up. I collected myself and took a deep breath.

"My my my; aren't we a little stressed?" The woman asked; my pointer and middle fingers stiffened, ready to shatter her trachea.

"You could say that." I said stiffly.

"Well, it must be the jet lag." She said, again trying to wave off the devastating evidence presented to her and the court.

"I would like to strike that from the records, your honor," Edward said standing up, "it is speculation."

"So stricken; proceed." The judge said.

"I am actually finished with this witness, her views are obviously biased," The defense attorney said, "I would like to cross examine Carlisle Brass." She proclaimed, clearly trying to mirror Edward's confidence but failing miserably.

"You may step down, Miss Swan." I did as I was told and sat next to Edward, who held my hand tightly and than let go of my hand.

Carlisle approached the bench, was reminded that he was still under oath, than sat.

"Dr. Brass, a very accomplished man, has been the forefront of all of Miss Swan's business," she introduced, "So, Dr. Brass, would you please describe how Miss Swan would have been if not for our upgrades?" She asked kindly.

"Bella would have been a normal teenager with awful frailties. She would have been abnormally clumsy, clingy, hormonal, weak, uncoordinated, and nowhere near as intelligent," He said. He still resembled a disembodied ghost; the only color in his face the purple under his eyes and the dead tone of his voice.

"Would you agree that we have improved her chances for a better future and that we are fit to keep her fit for said future by further nurturing her?" She prodded.

Carlisle seemed to deliberate for a moment, like he was having a fierce internal battle. Signs of life returned to his face as his forehead creased. The attorney waited impatiently. Carlisle's face cleared, than looked up. Edward was tensed beside me and I was on the edge of my chair, dreading his response.

"No, I would disagree." He said, stunning me into silence and everyone let out another gasp. Murmurs ran through the crowd and echoed off of the stone walls slightly. I stared, wide-eyed, at Carlisle; who looked like his old self again. He had a slightly taunting smile on as he looked at the fuming attorney.

"We did not 'nurture' her, as you say. We trained her to be a combat weapon, a machine. It isn't more your fault than the fault is mine that she wants to rise above the future we prepared for her." He said, looking at me in admiration; the way he always used to. I was still too stunned to smile back.

"No further questions, your honor." The attorney said quietly in defeat. She knew that this case was lost, and she knew that the superiors were going to tear her a new one. I could care less about that vulture who wanted to imprison me; I mainly worried about what would happen to Carlisle for speaking on my behalf.

"Actually, I have something to add," Carlisle said, a cocky smile playing on his lips, "I quit St. Catherine's." He said, looking at the judge expectantly.

"You may step down, Dr. Brass." The judge said, a stunned emotion leaking into her voice for the first time today. Carlisle walked towards the bench, but didn't sit down as he continued into the audience and sat down there; he didn't want to be associated with St. Catherine's anymore than I did now.

"If both the defense and plaintiff's are through, I motion for the jury to commence with their decision." The judge said, looking at the benches to see if anyone had an objection. The defense bench looked awful; they obviously wanted to object but could not fight the overwhelming evidence against them.

The lead juror stood up to announce his decision, "As the representative for the jury, I will announce our joint decision." Edward held my hand tightly and was positioned protectively, as if he was going to defend me from the jury's decision. You could have heard someone's lungs expand with the lingering silence in the room- that is, if anyone was breathing. We all seemed to be holding our breath.

"Presented with the facts of both sides, we find the defendant guilty, and Miss Swan may secure all of her rights as a US citizen starting now." He announced with a smile. The room erupted into applause as Edward looked at me with overwhelming jubilation. People were lining up behind him to shake his hand over the victory, but he ignored them (or genuinely didn't see them) as he kissed me ferociously. I returned the kiss with more fervor than ever before. The other lawyers squeaked by us and shook the hands of the people who wanted to shake Edward's hand. Edward pulled me closer I almost fainted; than I laughed.

"What's so funny?" Edward asked, panting slightly.

"Carlisle said I would have been some hormonal teenager, but that is all I can seem to be right now." I said, laughing softly. Edward laughed and kissed me chastely, realizing we were in a roomful of people as opposed to being alone as he seemed to think we were before.

The thought of Carlisle sprang into my head and I tried to find him in the mob of people trying to talk to us. I caught sight of him at the doors, looking at me. He smiled, and waved. I put on a genuine and thankful smile on.

His smile widened as he turned to leave. I wove through the crowd, following him. I faintly heard Edward call my name but the overwhelming urge to talk to Carlisle overtook me. I reached the doors he left through and stepped out of the courtroom and into a hallway. My eyes searched unproductively for Carlisle. I strode out the door in front of me which I assumed led to the outside.

I was met by a thousand people calling my name and even more camera flashes. Even though my eyes could see past the flashes, they could not see through the wall of people. I searched in vain for Carlisle. Edward burst through the doors and took my arm with a smile and led me back inside, where the paparazzi couldn't go with cameras.

"What happened?" Edward asked.

"I just… I wanted… to… I guess…speak with Carlisle?" I said, my answer sounding more like a question. Edward's confused face was replaced with a knowing one as his eyes searched the halls.

"Did he leave through those doors?" He asked.

"I think so... well at least he left the courtroom through this way." I trailed off, looking around the many doors in the hallway. I internally smacked myself- of course Carlisle wasn't going to leave where all of the paparazzi were!

My senses refocused as I tried to think like Carlisle would (which, consequently, means how I would think in this situation). I looked for anything out of the ordinary; a door that is ajar, a carpet with a fresh footprint, dust particles that were stirred from an opened door.

My eyes could find nothing, my ears could hear nothing, and my nose smelled nothing out of the ordinary. I looked back up at Edward, "There is obviously a reason he left so soon. Let's get out of here." I said to him finally. He looked at me closely, inspecting; than he nodded his head in agreement and we left my little piece of hell and into my large piece of heaven.

**A/N: Taadaa. Fanfiction thankfully fixed the problems posting, so it should be easier to find. Peace!**


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue- Ten Years Later

As I opened my mailbox with my left hand, the ring perched on it sparkled in the sunlight and momentarily distracted and dazzled my mind. Just as well, the man who gave it to me does exactly the same thing. After staring at the very elegant ring's crevices and sparkles and the second ring's gold band for a seemingly endless moment, I finally regained myself; I than realized that I was still standing on the street by my mailbox- and I was not alone. I heard a musical chuckle behind me.

"Having second thoughts?" The most velvet, silky, unbelievably sexy voice asked me. I smiled, back to him, and got the mail. I turned around with the mail in my hands.

"Never," I said simply, still smiling. Edward's answering smile was blinding. It reminded me a little bit of staring at a beautiful light; you know that you are going to be momentarily astonished, amazed, and possibly handicapped, but you just cannot look away.

He closed the distance in between us and held me close, well, as close as he could.

"That is making this surprisingly difficult," Edward said, looking down at my impregnated stomach.

"You should have thought of that before you knocked me up." I said laughing. Edward got a hungry look in his eyes, and it never ceased to make my stomach squirm. I got a violent and most pleasant flashback to exactly HOW I obtained this addition when Edward sighed.

"I can never really think of anything when we are…in circumstances like that." He said, editing a little.

"Well said," I said, rolling my eyes. I turned around to face the house and sighed. The house was more than I could have thought to ask for. It was a Victorian styled house and I half expected Miss Bennett to come out of it with Mr. Darcy. The ten acres of green lawn was dotted by large willow trees and hugged the house and its garden. The yard was split by the pearl white marble walkway that led to the asphalt driveway. The marble met with the wood grain of the porch and the porch encased the house on all sides in a widow's walk. There was a white intricate fence that lined the bottom deck and top balcony of the master bedroom; which had a full view of the front of the house, facing north.

The widow's walk was topped with a roof that was supported by elaborate columns. The roof itself was made of a steel grey barrel tile. The many large windows were surrounded by a thick wood trim and were long and rectangular in shape.

My inspection was cut shot by Edward's arms snaking around my enlarged waist. He pulled me closer to his chest and I had no objection. I then noticed the presence of mail in my hands and started to go through it absentmindedly. I handed Edward a letter from his thriving law firm that he opened about six months after my court case. His arms left my waist, but he took my hand and led me up the six steps to the deck and we sat on the swinging bench; enjoying each others' company and the smell of magnolias.

Edward had his letter open and was reading it as he put an arm around my shoulder. I leaned on him and looked through the rest of the mail. Junk mail…junk… junk… the last letter made my large heart stop. I sat up ramrod strait and stared at the sender's address and name written in a very elegant script.

Carlisle Brass

No Address Listed

Mrs. Bella Swan Mason

2353 SW Pembrook Pointe

Richmond, VA 5832

Sensing my unease, Edward leaned forward and looked at what was in my hand.

"Bella," He asked stiffly, "what is that?"

"A letter from Carlisle…" I whispered. I shook my head and tore it open. My eyes greedily took in the words written just as flawlessly as the front:

A most interesting residence choice, I must say, Bella. Forgive me for not contacting you sooner, but I am risking enough using my name as sender on the envelope.

_Before you start to overanalyze the situation like I know you will, let me comfort you by saying I merely want to congratulate you on you marriage and unborn child and regret that I could not see either; and it is more than possible that I will never get to see the child. I take solace in the fact that you and Mr. Mason will be more than capable of raising him or her. _

_Know that I am doing well and am happy to say that I have severed all connections with St. Catherine's (which is fighting more and more legal battles everyday and losing most of them.). The other OIT's you worked with are also out of the institution and said that they would write you themselves about their current situation. _

_Another reason for this contact was to portray my severe regret for NOT regretting altering your DNA, but to portray my severe regret in almost taking a part of forcing you to fulfill the future we gave you. I am eternally thankful for Mr. Mason's brilliant mind and skills for winning that lawsuit and, in turn, winning you. _

_Send my best to your husband (whom I hold in great regard and respect) and your unborn child. Attached is what I hope you and your husband will accept as my belated wedding present._

_All the best,_

_Carlisle Brass_

My every sense went blank as I finished, my eyes lingering on the page.

"Bella?" Edward asked, reminding me of his existence and the rest of the world. My mind dive-bombed out of its reverie and the sounds, sights, smells, and touches around me were suddenly shocked back into focus.

I looked at him and handed him the letter; absentmindedly stroking my stomach as he read it. I looked with scrutiny at him while he read it; watching for every crease of the brow or quirk of the lips. He finished after a short while and turned it over, than handed it back to me.

"It sounds like he misses you," He said quietly.

"You could say that, I suppose," I said stiffly; unsure of how to react or what to say. Edward squeezed my shoulders and held me for a moment as unexplainable emotions poured through me. I supposed it felt like if your dad sent you something saying he was going to a war; you know that he has the skills to defend himself, but you want to see him and make sure he is ok. I looked up at Edward and smiled. He leaned down and kissed me chastely- I wasn't having that. I pulled him in as he was about to pull back and inched closer to him, working my way into his lap. The envelopes fell of the floor and there was a muted thud that was detected by my ears. I broke the kiss and looked at what else I had missed. Edward helped me as I leaned down and grabbed the envelope.

It was Carlisle's envelope that had something extra in it. I pulled a folded piece of paper and unfolded it: and unfolded it…and unfolded it. It was an exceedingly long list of job offers. I looked at it; Carlisle seemed to be the only one besides Edward to be able to stun me. There was a post-it on it in Carlisle's calligraphy:

_I couldn't help myself; I had to give these to you. _

I could picture Carlisle chuckling giddily to himself as he received job offers for me. Edward whistled as we both read down the list; a few of them read:

_Chief of Secret Service_

_Captain of FBI_

_NASA Astronaut_

_Chief of Homeland Security_

I laughed at the mental picture when I got to NASA: a pregnant astronaut… Edward chuckled slightly and then turned his head to me; curious.

"Are you going to accept any of these?" He asked. I pursed my lips in concentration…

"Maybe when I am done raising this," I said, patting my stomach. Edward looked at me with a chiding expression.

"You aren't going to start calling our child it's or that's, are you?" He asked playfully, a smile pulling at his engrossing lips. I was about to quip with something smart, but my overactive, hormonal mind got severely sidetracked.

Edward noticed how my words were cut off short and how I was staring at something a little farther south than his eyes. He smiled an even more devastatingly beautiful and irresistible smile as he continued to tease me. It was than that I realized that I was still on his lap. I moved so that I was wrapped around his waist; fully prepared to do some teasing of my own. His smile faltered as I twisted closer to him, his eyes rolling back a little and his eyelids becoming lazy as he stared at my lips.

So effortlessly and swiftly that it took my breath away, he lifted me up and carried me inside; planning on reminding me of the events of the honeymoon.


End file.
